FAMILY
A family encompasses a group of organisms that may
contain multiple genera and consists of organisms with
a common attribute. The name of a family is formed by
adding the suffix -aceae to the root name of the type
genus; for example, the Streptococcaceae family type
genus is Streptococcus. One exception to the rule in microbiology
is the family Enterobacteriaceae; the type species
is Escherichia coli. Bacterial (prokaryotic) type species or
strains are determined according to guidelines published
by the International Committee for the Systematics of
Prokaryotes. Species definitions are distinguished using
DNA profiling, including a nearly complete 16S rRNA
sequence with less than 0-5% ambiguity in combination
with phenotypic traits. Type species should also be
described in detail using diagnostic and comparable
methods that are reproducible.