Relationships of plant pathogenic enterobacteria based on partial atpD, carA, and recA as individual and concatenated nucleotide and peptide sequences

Relationships of the genera in the Enterobacteriaceae containing plant pathogenic species: Brenneria, Dickeya, Enterobacter, Erwinia, Pantoea, Pectobacterium, and Samsonia, were investigated by comparison of their nucleotide and peptide sequences of atpD, carA, recA, and the concatenated sequences. Erwinia spp. and Pantoea spp., with Pectobacterium cypripedii, formed a group distinct from other pathogenic taxa. Pectobacterium, Brenneria, Dickeya, and Samsonia formed a contiguous clade. Samsonia was usually concurrent with Pectobacterium. Most Brenneria were also close to Pectobacterium, suggesting that these three taxa might be better represented as a single genus. Brenneria quercina was not closely associated with other members of this genus and may represent a separate genus. The sequences representing Dickeya were distinct, further supporting the generic status of the taxon. Plant pathogenic Enterobacter spp. display such sequence variability that few definite conclusions as to their specific placement could be made. These data highlight the difficulty of drawing reliable and robust taxonomic conclusions based on comparative analysis of sequence data without some independent criterion to calibrate a scale for diversity.