A Genomic redefinition of Pseudomonas avellanae species

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 25;8(9):e75794. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075794. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

The circumscription of bacterial species is a complex task. So far, DNA-DNA hybridization (DDH), 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and multiocus sequence typing analysis (MLSA) are currently the preferred techniques for their genetic determination. However, the average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis of conserved and shared genes between two bacterial strains based on the pair-wise genome comparisons, with support of the tetranucleotide frequency correlation coefficients (TETRA) value, has recently been proposed as a reliable substitute for DDH. The species demarcation boundary has been set to a value of 95-96% of the ANI identity, with further confirmation through the assessment of the corresponding TETRA value. In this study, we performed a genome-wide MLSA of 14 phytopathogenic pseudomonads genomes, and assessed the ANI and TETRA values of 27 genomes, representing seven out of the nine genomospecies of Pseudomonas spp. sensu Gardan et alii, and their phylogenetic relationships using maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. The results demonstrate the existence of a well demarcated genomic cluster that includes strains classified as P. avellanae, P. syringae pv. theae, P. s. pv. actinidiae and one P. s. pv. morsprunorum strain all belonging to the single species P. avellanae. In addition, when compared with P. avellanae, five strains of P. s. pv. tomato, including the model strain DC3000, and one P. s. pv. lachrymans strain, appear as very closely related to P. avellanae, with ANI values of nearly 96% as confirmed by the TETRA analysis. Conversely, one representative strain, previously classified as P. avellanae and isolated in central Italy, is a genuine member of the P. syringae species complex and can be defined as P. s. pv. avellanae. Currently. The core and pan genomes of P. avellanae species consist of 3,995 and 5,410 putative protein-coding genes, respectively.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bayes Theorem
  • DNA, Bacterial / genetics
  • Genome, Bacterial / genetics*
  • Genomics / methods
  • Nucleic Acid Hybridization / genetics
  • Nucleotides / genetics
  • Phylogeny
  • Pseudomonas / classification*
  • Pseudomonas / genetics*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA / methods

Substances

  • DNA, Bacterial
  • Nucleotides

Grants and funding

The work was funded by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry in the framework of the project ARDICA: “Azioni di ricerca e difesa al cancro batterico dell'Actinidia (Psa)”. No additional external funding was received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.