Salmonella enterica enterica is a subspecies of Salmonella enterica

Salmonella enterica

Salmonella enterica is a rod-shaped flagellated, facultative anaerobic, Gram-negative bacterium, and a member of the genus Salmonella.- Epidemiology :...

, the rod shaped, flagellated, aerobic, Gram-negative

Gram-negative

Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color...

 bacterium. It is a member of the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Salmonella

Salmonella

Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with diameters around 0.7 to 1.5 µm, lengths from 2 to 5 µm, and flagella which grade in all directions . They are chemoorganotrophs, obtaining their energy from oxidation and reduction...

. Many of the pathogenic serovars of the S. enterica species are in this subspecies.

Serovars (not an all-inclusive list, as there are >2,500)

• Salmonella Choleraesuis
• Salmonella Dublin
• Salmonella Enteritidis
• Salmonella Gallinarum
• Salmonella Hadar
• Salmonella Heidelberg
• Salmonella Infantis
• Salmonella Paratyphi
• Salmonella Typhi
• Salmonella Typhimurium

Nomenclature

The serovars can be designated fully or in a shortened form. The short form lists the genus, Salmonella, which is followed by the capitalized and non-italicized serovar. The full designation for Salmonella Typhi is Salmonella enterica enterica, serovar Typhi. Each serovar can have many strains as well, which allows for a rapid increase in the total number of antigenically variable

Antigenic variation

Antigenic variation refers to the mechanism by which an infectious organism such as a protozoan, bacterium or virus alters its surface proteins in order to evade a host immune response. Immune evasion is particularly important for organisms that target long-lived hosts, repeatedly infect a single...

bacteria.