Levilactobacillus, Zheng & Wittouck & Salvetti & Franz & Harris & Mattarelli & O’Toole & Pot & Vandamme & Walter & Watanabe & Wuyts & Felis & Gänzle & Lebeer, 2020

Zheng, Jinshui, Wittouck, Stijn, Salvetti, Elisa, Franz, Charles M. A. P., Harris, Hugh M. B., Mattarelli, Paola, O’Toole, Paul W., Pot, Bruno, Vandamme, Peter, Walter, Jens, Watanabe, Koichi, Wuyts, Sander, Felis, Giovanna E., Gänzle, Michael G. & Lebeer, Sarah, 2020, A taxonomic note on the genus Lactobacillus: Description of 23 novel genera, emended description of the genus Lactobacillus Beijerinck 1901, and union of Lactobacillaceae and Leuconostocaceae, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 70 (4), pp. 2782-2858 : 2836

DESCRIPTION OF LEVILACTOBACILLUS GEN. NOV.

Levilactobacillus (Le.vi.lac.to.ba.cil'lus. L. v. levare to lift up, release, relieve; N.L. masc. n. Lactobacillus a bacterial genus name; N.L. masc. n. Levilactobacillus a lactobacillus with leavening potential, referring to the occurrence of multiple species in the genus in type I sourdoughs that are used as sole leavening agent).

Gram-positive, rod-shaped, catalase negative, heterofermentative. Most strains grow at 15 °C but not at 45 °C, are acid tolerant, growing generally in the pH range of 4.0–7.0 and produce DL-lactic acid. The genome size ranges from 1.97 Mbp for Levilactobacillus bambusae to 3.38 Mbp for Levilactobacillus cerevisiae , the mol% G+C content ranges from 46.3–55.9 %. Strains in the genus lead a free-living lifestyle and were isolated from sourdough or fermented vegetable products but also occur as spoilage organisms in alcoholic beverages. Strains in the genus generally harbour genes coding for transaldolase/transketolase which mediate metabolism of pentoses to pyruvate. Levilactobacillus brevis is used commercially as starter culture in food and feed applications.

A phylogenetic tree on the basis of 16S rRNA genes of all species in the genus Levilactobacillus is provided in Figure S 6P .

The type species of the genus is Levilactobacillus brevis comb. nov.; Levilactobacillus was previously referred to as L. brevis group.

Figures

Fig. 6. Gene family presence/absence patterns in Lactobacillaceae and Leuconostocaceae. Each column represents a gene family presence/absence pattern in species of Lactobacillaceae and Leuconostoaceae, where presence is indicated with a dot. The absolute number of gene families that conform to each pattern is visualized in the marginal bar plot at the top. Separations between phylogroups are indicated with horizontal black lines. We defined genes that were present in all genomes of a clade and in none of the genomes outside of that clade as ‘signature genes’ (dark blue); other genes are shown in light blue. Only presence/absence patterns followed by four or more gene families are shown. Patterns of presence in a single species or all species are not shown. Unassigned species are clusters of closely related genomes which could not be assigned to a known species due to low whole-genome similarity to a type strain and/or low 16S rRNA similarity to a type strain.