The phylogenetic position of Serratia, Buttiauxella and some other genera of the family Enterobacteriaceae

Abstract

The phylogenetic relationships of the type strains of 38 species from 15 genera of the family Enterobacteriaceae were investigated by comparative 16S rDNA analysis. Several sequences of strains from the genera Citrobacter, Erwinia, Pantoea, Proteus, Rahnella and Serratia, analysed in this study, have been analysed previously. However, as the sequences of this study differ slightly from the published ones, they were included in the analysis. Of the 23 enterobacterial genera included in an overview dendrogram of relatedness, members of the genera Xenorhabdus, Photorhabdus, Proteus and Plesiomonas were used as a root. The other genera formed two groups which could be separated, although not exclusively, by signature nucleotides at positions 590-649 and 600-638. Group A contains species of Brenneria, Buttiauxella, Citrobacter, Escherichia, Erwinia, Klebsiella, Pantoea, Pectobacterium and Salmonella. All seven type strains of Buttiauxella share 16S rDNA similarities greater than 99%. Group B embraces two phylogenetically separate Serratia clusters, a lineage containing Yersinia species, Rahnella aquatica, Ewingella americana, and also the highly related pair Hafnia alvei and Obesumbacterium proteus.