Taxonomic heterogeneity, as shown by siderotyping, of strains primarily identified as Pseudomonas putida

One hundred and forty-four fluorescent pseudomonad strains isolated from various environments (soil, water, plant rhizosphere, hospital) and received as Pseudomonas putida (83 strains), P. putida biovar A (49 strains), P. putida biovar B (10 strains) and P. putida biovar C (2 strains), were analysed by the pyoverdine-isoelectrofocusing and pyoverdine-mediated iron uptake methods of siderotyping. Both methods demonstrated a great diversity among these strains, which could be subdivided into 35 siderovars. Some siderovars specifically included strains that have subsequently been transferred to well-defined Pseudomonas species, e.g. Pseudomonas monteilii or Pseudomonas mosselii, or which could be related by their siderotype to Pseudomonas jessenii or Pseudomonas mandelii. Other siderovars included strains sharing a high level of DNA-DNA relatedness (>70%), thus demonstrating that siderotyping could easily circumscribe strains at the species level. However, a group of seven strains, including the type strain, P. putida ATCC 12633T, were allocated into four siderovars, despite sharing DNA-DNA relatedness values of higher than 70 %. Interestingly, the strong genomic relationships between these seven strains were supported by the structural relationships among their pyoverdines, thus reflecting their phylogenetic affinities. These results strongly support the view that pyoverdine-based siderotyping could be used as a powerful tool in Pseudomonas taxonomy.