NCBI Taxonomy Identifiers Added to MeSH

In 2018, MeSH began adding NCBI taxonomy vocabulary into MeSH, starting with Virus terminology. This project has since been expanded to include Archaea, Bacteria, and Fungi. In 2020, MeSH began adding the NCBI Taxonomy ID numbers (txid) to the Registry Number (RN) field of the MeSH Supplementary Concept Records (SCRs), starting with the Class 4 SCRs (Organisms). For 2021 MeSH, the project included the addition of txids for MeSH Descriptors in the Category B1-B4 Organisms tree. While the Registry Numbers do not display for these Organisms terms in the MEDLINE citations, users will be able to see the RN number in the MeSH Browser display. For example, SARS-CoV-2 has Registry Number txid2697049 from NCBI Taxonomy.

Note that MeSH continues to map SCR organisms to MeSH headings (Heading Mapped To [HM]) and provides additional references to related MeSH headings, such as infectious diseases caused by the organism. For example:

• SCR Organism: Lagos bat lyssavirus
• MeSH Heading Mapped To: Lyssavirus
• Indexing information: Rhabdoviridae Infections
• Registry number: txid38766