Comprehensive Phylogenomics of Methylobacterium Reveals Four Evolutionary Distinct Groups and Underappreciated Phyllosphere Diversity.

ABSTRACT: Methylobacterium is a group of methylotrophic microbes associated with soil, fresh water, and particularly the phyllosphere, the aerial part of plants that has been well studied in terms of physiology but whose evolutionary history and taxonomy are unclear. Recent work has suggested that Methylobacterium is much more diverse than thought previously, questioning its status as an ecologically and phylogenetically coherent taxonomic genus. However, taxonomic and evolutionary studies of Methylobacterium have mostly been restricted to model species, often isolated from habitats other than the phyllosphere and have yet to utilize comprehensive phylogenomic methods to examine gene trees, gene content, or synteny. By analyzing 189 Methylobacterium genomes from a wide range of habitats, including t

SUBMITTER: Leducq JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9364378 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature