Abstract
In this paper, the comparative genome analysis was used to re-evaluate the taxonomic relationship between Paraglaciecola chathamensis and Paraglaciecola agarilytica. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that P. chathamensis S18K6T shared the highest sequence identity with P. agarilytica NO2T (99.9%), Paraglaciecola mesophila KMM 241T (99.2%) and Paraglaciecola polaris LMG 21857T (98.5%). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and whole-genome sequences showed that P. chathamensis S18K6T was most closely related to P. agarilytica NO2T. However, the average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values among them were greater than the threshold of 95-96% and 70 % for the delineation of prokaryotic genomic species, confirming that they represented the same species. Besides, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic properties between P. agarilytica KCTC 12755T and P. chathamensis JCM 13645T were almost identical, further verifying this result. Consequently, we propose that P. agarilytica (Yong et al. 2007) Shivaji and Reddy 2014 is a later heterotypic synonym of P. chathamensis (Matsuyama et al. 2006) Shivaji and Reddy 2014.