No abstract

No abstract

The Pectobacteriaceae family of important plant pathogens includes the genus Dickeya . There are currently 12 described species of Dickeya , although some are poorly characterized at the genomic level. Only two genomes of Dickeya paradisiaca , the type strain CFBP 4178T and strain Ech703, have previously been sequenced. Members of this species are mostly of tropical or subtropical origin. During an investigation of strains present in our laboratory collection we sequenced the atypical strain A3967, registered as CFBP 722, isolated from Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) in the South of France in 1965. The genome of strain A3967 shares digital DNA–DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values of 68 and 96 %, respectively, with the D. paradisiaca type strain CFBP 4178T. However, ANI analysis showed that D. paradisiaca strains are significantly dissimilar to the other Dickeya species, such that less than one third of their genomes align to any other Dickeya genome. On phenotypic, phylogenetic and genomic grounds, we propose a reassignment of D. paradisiaca to the genus level, for which we propose the name Musicola gen. nov., with Musicola paradisiaca as the type species and CFBP 4178T (NCPPB 2511T) as the type strain. Phenotypic analysis showed differences between strain A3967T and CFBP 4178T, such as for the assimilation of melibiose, raffinose and myo-inositol. These results support the description of two novel species, namely Musicola paradisiaca comb. nov. and Musicola keenii sp. nov., with CFBP 4178T (NCPPB 2511T=LMG 2542T) and A3967T (CFBP 8732T=LMG 31880T) as the type strains, respectively.