Five strains, designated WS 4672T, WS 4998, WS 4992T, WS 4997 and WS 5000, isolated from bovine raw milk formed two individual groups in a phylogenetic analysis. The most similar species on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequences were Pseudomonas azotoformans IAM 1603T, Pseudomonas gessardii CIP 105469T and Pseudomonas libanensis CIP 105460T showing 99.7-99.6 % similarity. Using rpoD gene sequences Pseudomonas veronii LMG 17761T (93.3 %) was most closely related to strain WS 4672T and Pseudomonas libanensis CIP 105460T to strain WS 4992T (93.3 %). The five strains could be differentiated from their closest relatives and from each other by phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characterization and ANIb values calculated from draft genome assemblies. ANIb values of strains WS 4992T and WS4671T to the closest relatives are lower than 90 %. The major cellular polar lipids of both strains are phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, a phospholipid and diphosphatidylglycerol, and their major quinone is Q-9. The DNA G+C content of strains WS 4992T and WS 4672T were 60.0 and 59.7 mol%, respectively. Based on these genotypic and phenotypic traits two novel species of the genus Pseudomonas are proposed: Pseudomonas lactis sp. nov. [with type strain WS 4992T (=DSM 29167T=LMG 28435T) and the additional strains WS 4997 and WS 5000], and Pseudomonasparalactis sp. nov. [with type strain WS 4672T (=DSM 29164T=LMG 28439T) and additional strain WS 4998].
Pseudomonas species are a main cause of proteolytic spoilage of ultrahigh temperature (UHT) milk products due to the secretion of the heat-resistant metallopeptidase AprX, which is encoded by the first gene of the aprX-lipA2 operon. While the proteolytic property has been characterized for many different Pseudomonas isolates, the underlying aprX-lipA2 gene organization was only described for a few strains so far. In this study, the phylogenomic analysis of 185 Pseudomonas type strains revealed that the presence of aprX is strongly associated to a monophylum composed of 81 species, of which 83% carried the aprX locus. Furthermore, almost all type strains of known milkrelevant species were shown to be members of the three monophyletic groups P. fluorescens, P. gessardii, and P. fragi. In total, 22 different types of aprX-lipA2 genetic organizations were identified in the genus, whereby 31% of the species tested carried the type 1 operon structure consisting of eight genes (aprXIDEF prtAB lipA2). Other genetic structures differed from type 1 mainly in the presence and location of genes coding for two lipases (lipA1 and lipA2) and putative autotransporters (prtA and prtB). The peptidase activity of 129 strains, as determined on skim milk agar and in UHT-milk, correlated largely with different aprX-lipA2 gene compositions. Particularly, isolates harboring the type 1 operon were highly proteolytic, while strains with other operon types, especially ones lacking prtA and prtB, exhibited significantly lower peptidase activities. In conclusion, the phylogenomic position and the aprX-lipA2 gene organization specify the proteolytic potential of Pseudomonas isolates. In addition, however, an interplay of several environmental factors and intrinsic traits influences production and activity of AprX, leading to strain-specific proteolytic phenotypes.
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