Reclassification of Sabulilitoribacter multivorans and Sabulilitoribacter arenilitoris as Flaviramulus multivorans comb. nov. and Wocania arenilitoris comb. nov., respectively, based on genome sequence analysis.

Abstract

Rapid advancements in DNA sequencing technologies are providing new approaches for bacterial taxonomy. The genus Sabulilitoribacter is a member of the family Flavobacteriaceae, which consists of more than 150 genera. In this study, genome sequence analysis was conducted to revisit the taxonomic status of Sabulilitoribacter arenilitoris and Sabulilitoribacter multivorans, the only two species of this genus. Genome sequence based phylogeny analysis showed that the genus Sabulilitoribacter was non-monophyletic: S. multivorans, the type species of genus Sabulilitoribacter, was clustered with the type species of the genus Flaviramulus, whereas S. arenilitoris formed a robust cluster with the only two species of the genus Wocania. The values of average amino acid identity, genome-wide average nucleotide identity, alignment fractions and some phenotypic features showed that S. multivorans was more closely related with the type species of the genus Flaviramulus than with S. arenilitoris, and S. arenilitoris was more closely related with the only two species of the genus Wocania than with S. multivorans. Based on these results, we consequently propose that S. multivorans and S. arenilitoris should be reclassified as Flaviramulus multivorans comb. nov. and Wocania arenilitoris comb. nov. respectively.