Using Bergey's Manuals

Introduction to Bergey's Manuals

Located near the computers on the top floor of the Chemistry library, Bergey's Manual is a print resource which will allow you to find information about a wide range of bacteria - Bergey's manual was designed both to "assist in the identification of procaryotes . . . [and] to indicate the relatedness that exists among the various groups of procaryotes." *

Note: there are two types of Bergey's Manuals: "Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology" and "Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology"

Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology

• "Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology" is a more exhaustive work with more detailed information for each Genus, including information about specific species - the first and second editions were published approximately 15 years apart. In the first edition of Bergey's, bacteria are classified by phenotypic characteristics, whereas in the second edition they are mostly grouped by similarity of their 16s rRNA sequences. Each of these editions consists of several volumes: (note: a number of these volumes are broken up into several parts which have been published separately)

  First Edition

  • Volume 1: Gram-Negative Bacteria of General, Medical, or Industrial Importance (1984)
  • Volume 2: Gram-Positive Bacteria Other than Actinomycetes (1986)
  • Volume 3: Archaeobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and Remaining Gram-Negative Bacteria (1989)
  • Volume 4: Actinomycetes (1989)

  Second Edition

  • Volume 1: The Archaea and the Deeply Branching and Phototrophic Bacteria (2001)
  • Volume 2: The Protobacteria (2005)
  • Volume 3: The Low G + C Gram-Positive Bacteria (not yet available, scheduled for publication in 2008)
  • Volume 4: The Planctomycetes, Spirochaetes, Fibrobacteres, Bacteriodetes, and Fusobacteria (not yet available, scheduled for publication in 2008)
  • Volume 5: The High G + C Gram-Positive Bacteria (not yet available, scheduled for publication in 2009)

• The Chemistry library has a number of editions of this work, the most recent being the 9th edition (1994). Finding the Genus of your bacteria is simpler here than in "Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology" - however there is less information in this work, in fact there is no species-level information.

If you need assistance in using these volumes, contact the Biology librarian Tom Harrod (tharrod@umd.edu, (301)405-7253, Chemistry Library rm. 1526A)

Using the Bergey's Manuals

• Before using the Bergey's Manuals, please note the following:
• Be considerate of other students and do not remove the manuals from the top floor of the library
• Return them to their proper shelf when you are done
We have a limited number of these volumes and there are many students who need to use them in a limited amount of time

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• Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology
1. Once you have the phylogenetic tree for your bacteria in hand, open to the "Contents" page and look for the general "Group" in which your bacteria falls
2. Below the appropriate Group, look for the Genus of your organism of interest
Example:
• Group 1 Gram-Negative Aerobic/Microaerophilic Rods and Cocci
• . . .
• Genus Acidomonas . . . . . . . 72
• . . .
To find information about the Genus Acidomonas, turn to page 72

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• Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology:

As noted above, the second edition of this work is not complete - not all of the volumes which will ultimately be a part of this edition have been published. Therefore, you may need to look for your bacteria in the first edition.
1. Once you have the phylogenetic tree for your bacteria in hand, go to the "Contents" page for appropriate volume of Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology
2. Find the Class of your organism
3. Next, find the correct Order, Family, and Genus
4. Go to the page listed for the Genus and look for the "List of species of the genus . . ."
Example:
• Class I. Alphaproteobacteria
• Order VI. Rhizobiales
• Family VII. Bradyrhizobiaceae
• . . .
• Genus VI. Nitrobacter . . . . . . 461
• . . .
To find specific information for Nitrobacter hamburgensis, go to page 461 and look through the article for Nitrobacter until you find the "List of species of the genus Nitrobacter".

If you are still having trouble finding your bacteria in Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, try the following:

1. Look for the genus of your bacteria in the index in the back of the volume (there are numerous volumes so you may need to check several to find your bacteria of interest)
2. Listed underneath the genus may be one or more species within that genus
3. Look for a page number listing for your species written in bold - this will indicate the page number for the main article about this organism - the non-bold listings refer to articles for other bacteria which reference that bacteria

Example:
Hyphomicrobium
• aestuarii, 1898-1900, 1901
• coagulans, 1898-1900, 1903
• hollandicum, 1898-1901, 1902
• neptunium, 1897, 1907
• vulgare, 1895, 1897-1900, 1901, 1909

To find the record for Hyphomicrobium vulgare, go to page 1901

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