Use of housekeeping gene sequencing for species identification of viridans streptococci

Based on the genetic analysis of 20 reference strains, we describe an approach using the sequencing of 2 housekeeping genes, zwf and gki, to identify members of the mitis-sanguinis group of viridans streptococci to the species level, with a better discrimination compared with 16S rDNA sequencing. This approach also suggested that some reference strains may not be correctly classified.