title: Streptococcus massiliensis in the human mouth: a phylogenetic approach for the inference of bacterial habitats.
abstract: Streptococcus is a diverse bacterial lineage. Species of this genus occupy a myriad of environments inside humans and other animals. Despite the elucidation of several of these habitats, many remain to be identified. Here, we explore a methodological approach to reveal unknown bacterial environments. Specifically, we inferred the phylogeny of the Mitis group by analyzing the sequences of eight genes. In addition, information regarding habitat use of species belonging to this group was obtained from the scientific literature. The oral cavity emerged as a potential, previously unknown, environment of Streptococcus massiliensis. This phylogeny-based prediction was confirmed by species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. We propose employing a similar approach, i.e., use of bibliographic data and molecular phylogenetics as predictive methods, and species-specific PCR as confirmation, in order to reveal other unknown habitats in further bacterial taxa.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Antropología, FACSO, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Póntigo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Antropología, FACSO, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Antropología, FACSO, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.|Programa de Genética Humana, ICBM, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moraga
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Antropología, FACSO, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Flores
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology*; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D034361:Streptococcus mitis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; C095500:SodA protein, Bacteria; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; C105078:RNA polymerase beta subunit; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu