Phylogenomic Analyses of the Genus Pseudomonas Lead to the Rearrangement of Several Species and the Definition of New Genera

Simple Summary Pseudomonas represents a very important bacterial genus that inhabits many environments and plays either prejudicial or beneficial roles for higher hosts. However, there are many Pseudomonas species which are too divergent to the rest of the genus. This may interfere in the correct development of biological and ecological studies in which Pseudomonas are involved. Thus, we aimed to study the correct taxonomic placement of Pseudomonas species. Based on the study of their genomes and some evolutionary-based methodologies, we suggest the description of three new genera (Denitrificimonas, Parapseudomonas and Neopseudomonas) and many reclassifications of species previously included in Pseudomonas. Pseudomonas is a large and diverse genus broadly distributed in nature. Its species play relevant roles in the biology of earth and living beings. Because of its ubiquity, the number of new species is continuously increasing although its taxonomic organization remains quite difficult to unravel. Nowadays the use of genomics is routinely employed for the analysis of bacterial systematics. In this work, we aimed to investigate the classification of species of the genus Pseudomonas on the basis of the analyses of the type strains whose genomes are currently available. Based on these analyses, we propose the creation of three new genera (Denitrificimonas gen nov. comb. nov., Neopseudomonas gen nov. comb. nov. and Parapseudomonas gen nov. comb. nov) to encompass several species currently included within the genus Pseudomonas and the reclassification of several species of this genus in already described taxa.

Automated summary

Pseudomonas is a diverse and widely distributed genus of bacteria that plays important roles in the biology of earth and living beings. Its taxonomic organization remains challenging due to the increasing number of new species and the use of genomics for analysis. This research proposes the creation of three new genera to classify species previously included in Pseudomonas and to reclassify several species within existing taxa based on genome analyses.