The genus Cronobacter is composed of 7 species.  Before 2007, the single species name Enterobacter sakazakii was applied to these organisms. The Cronobacter MLST was initially applied to distinguish between C. sakazakii and C. malonaticus because 16S rDNA sequencing is not always accurate enough, and biotyping is too subjective. The Cronobacter MLST scheme uses 7 alleles; atpD, fusA, glnS, gltB, gyrB, infB and ppsA giving a concatenated sequence of 3036 bp for phylogenetic analysis (MLSA) and comparative genomics.  MLST has also been used in the formal recognition of new Cronobacter species. The method has revealed a strong association between one genetic lineage, sequence type 4 (ST4), and cases of neonatal meningitis., The Cronobacter MLST site is at http://www.pubMLST.org/cronobacter.