title: Revised phylogeny of Rhizobiaceae: proposal of the delineation of Pararhizobium gen. nov., and 13 new species combinations.
abstract: The family Rhizobiaceae accommodates the seven genera Rhizobium, Neorhizobium, Allorhizobium, Agrobacterium, Ensifer (syn. Sinorhizobium), Shinella and Ciceribacter. However, several so-called Rhizobium species do not exhibit robust phylogenetic positions. Rhizobium is extremely heterogeneous and is in need of major revision. Therefore, a phylogenetic examination of the family Rhizobiaceae by multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of four housekeeping genes among 100 strains of the family was undertaken. Based on the results we propose the delineation of the new genus Pararhizobium in the Rhizobiaceae family, and 13 new species combinations: Agrobacterium nepotum comb. nov., Agrobacterium pusense comb. nov., Agrobacterium skierniewicense comb. nov., Allorhizobium vitis comb. nov., Allorhizobium taibaishanense comb. nov., Allorhizobium paknamense comb. nov., Allorhizobium oryzae comb. nov., Allorhizobium pseudoryzae comb. nov., Allorhizobium borbori comb. nov., Pararhizobium giardinii comb. nov., Pararhizobium capsulatum comb. nov., Pararhizobium herbae comb. nov., and Pararhizobium sphaerophysae comb. nov.
authors.affiliation: University of Helsinki, Division of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, Biocentre 1, Viikinkaari 9, P.O. Box 56, Helsinki FIN-00014, Finland; University of Helsinki, Department of Environmental Sciences, Viikinkaari 2a, P.O. Box 65, Helsinki FIN-00014, Finland. Electronic address: s.abdollah.mousavi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Seyed Abdollah
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mousavi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Ghent University, K. L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Willems
authors.affiliation: University of Lyon; Université Lyon1; Ecologie Microbienne, UMR CNRS 5557/USC INRA 1364, 16 rue R. Dubois, F-69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Nesme
authors.affiliation: IRD, Laboratoire des Symbioses Tropicales et Méditerranéennes, Campus de Baillarguet TA A-82/J, 34398 Montpellier Cédex 5, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Lajudie
authors.affiliation: University of Helsinki, Department of Environmental Sciences, Viikinkaari 2a, P.O. Box 65, Helsinki FIN-00014, Finland.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lindström
mesh_terms: D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D020043:Genes, Essential; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D012230:Rhizobiaceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: Housekeeping genes; MLSA; Rhizobiaceae