Characterisation of two novel species of Legionella isolated from tap water installations
The Genus Legionella encompass environmental bacteria frequently present in water samples. Two strains of Legionella isolated from tap water installations were identified as novel species. The genome of both strains was sequenzed and compared against a collection of genes from the Genus pan genome. Both strains codify for htpB, a heat shock moonlighting protein that act as an invasion virulence factor. The novel strains encoded antimicrobial resistance genes again beta-lactams and carbapenems, and presented an exclusive biofilm cluster of genes not present in other species of the Genus. The accessory annotation depicted  clusters for terpene, siderophores, cyclodipeptide and polyaminoacids biosynthesis. These novel descriptions bring to light the pathogenic capacity of other species of Legionella not-pneumophila, the phylogenetic diversity of the Genus and their metabolic plasticity.