To ensure that taxonomic information on genome assemblies is as accurate as possible, NCBI will use average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis to correct existing public records in GenBank.
We will contact submitters of records found to be misidentified and provide reports with ANI information based on comparison to type strains. If there is no objection, the taxonomic change will be made, and a structured comment will be added to the record.
In cases where a genome assembly was not submitted with a binomial name (ex: Bacillus sp. 123) but was found to match a known species with high confidence, the strain will be merged with the binomial in the taxonomy database. This will occur as part of the normal maintenance of merged taxonomic names. The submitter will not be contacted, but the structured comment indicating the change will be added to the record.
A paper in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology presents the method NCBI scientists used to review all prokaryotic genome assemblies in GenBank, as well as the current status of GenBank verifications and recent developments in confirming species assignments in new genome submissions.