Comparative ribosomal protein sequence analyses of a phylogenetically defined genus, Pseudomonas, and its relatives

I analyzed various families of ribosomal proteins obtained from selected species belonging to the genus Pseudomonas sensu stricto and allied organisms which were previously classified in the genus Pseudomonas. Partial amino acid sequencing of L30 preparations revealed that the strains which I examined could be divided into three clusters. The first cluster, which was assigned to the genus Pseudomonas sensu stricto, included Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas mendocina, and Pseudomonas fluorescens. The second cluster included Burkholderia pickettii and Burkholderia plantarii. The third cluster, which was a deeply branching cluster in the stem of gram-negative bacteria, included Brevundimonas diminuta and Brevundimonas vesicularis. Despite the different levels of conservation of the N-terminal sequences of ribosomal protein families (the highest level of similarity was 74% for L27 proteins and the lowest level of similarity was 42% for L30 proteins), similar phylogenetic trees were constructed by using data obtained from sequence analyses of various ribosomal protein families, including the S20, S21, L27, L29, L31, L32, and L33 protein families. Thus, I demonstrated the efficacy of ribosomal protein analysis in bacterial taxonomy.