Roseomonas spp. are increasingly involved in human infectious diseases. The environmental source for infection is generally admitted in published cases owing to the origin of most Roseomonas species and to their affiliation to the family Acetobacteraceae in Rhodospirillales, which mainly groups environmental bacteria. For a better delineation of Roseomonas habitat and infectious reservoir, we related phenotype, phylotype (16S rRNA gene), genomotype (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) and origin of 33 strains isolated from humans, hospital environment and natural environment. Genetic and metagenomic databases were also surveyed. The population structure of the genus showed clades associated with humans, whereas others grouped environmental strains only. Roseomonas mucosa is the main human-associated species and the study supported the idea that opportunistic infections due to this species are related to the patient skin microbiota rather than to the environment. In contrast, some strains belonging to other species isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis were related to environmental clades, suggesting an exogenous source for patient colonization. Accurate knowledge about the reservoirs of opportunistic pathogens that have long been considered of environmental origin is still needed and would be helpful to improve infection control and epidemiological survey of emerging human pathogens.

Environment is recognized as a huge reservoir for bacterial species and a source of human pathogens. Some environmental bacteria have an extraordinary range of activities that include promotion of plant growth or disease, breakdown of pollutants, production of original biomolecules, but also multidrug resistance and human pathogenicity. The versatility of bacterial life-style involves adaptation to various niches. Adaptation to both open environment and human specific niches is a major challenge that involves intermediate organisms allowing pre-adaptation to humans. The aim of this review is to analyze genomic features of environmental bacteria in order to explain their adaptation to human beings. The genera Pseudomonas , Aeromonas and Ochrobactrum provide valuable examples of opportunistic behavior associated to particular genomic structure and evolution. Particularly, we performed original genomic comparisons among aeromonads and between the strictly intracellular pathogens Brucella spp. and the mild opportunistic pathogens Ochrobactrum spp. We conclude that the adaptation to human could coincide with a speciation in action revealed by modifications in both genomic and population structures. This adaptation-driven speciation could be a major mechanism for the emergence of true pathogens besides the acquisition of specialized virulence factors.