Whole genome de novo sequencing and comparative genomic analyses suggests that Chlamydia psittaci strain 84/2334 should be reclassified as Chlamydia abortus species

Table 1 Species classification of C. psittaci strain 84/2334 based on similarity of five discriminant protein sequences

	Percentage sequence similarity to equivalent protein in *C. psittaci* strain 84/2334
	C. abortus strains			Avian C. abortus strains			C. psittaci strains
	S26/3	AB7	LLG	15-70d/24 [G1] ¹	15-49d/3 [G2] ¹	15-58d/44 [1V] ¹	6BC [A] ¹	CP3 [B] ¹	GR9 [C] ¹	NJ1 [D] ¹	MN [E] ¹	VS225 [F] ¹	WS/RT/E30 [E/B] ¹	M56	WC
Adk	99.1	99.1	99.5	98.6	95.8	NA	92.5	92.5	92.5	92.5	92.5	92.5	92.5	92.0	92.5
FtsK	99.4	99.4	99.4	99.5	98.9	99.3	97.0	96.9	97.0	96.8	96.8	96.9	97.0	96.8	97.0
HemL	99.3	99.3	98.9	99.3	99.1	99.1	92.2	92.2	92.4	92.0	92.4	92.4	92.4	92.2	92.4
PepF	99.7	99.7	99.5	98.8	98.4	99.3	94.1	93.9	94.1	94.2	94.1	94.2	94.1	94.1	94.4
RpoN	99.8	98.8	99.1	98.1	98.1	98.8	94.3	94.3	94.1	94.3	94.3	94.1	93.9	94.3	94.1

Species classification based on typing scheme of Pillonel et al. [35]. Numbers in bold indicate those that meet threshold criteria (Adk ≥ 95%, FtsK ≥98%, HemL ≥95%, PepF ≥96%, RpoN ≥96%) for speciation of strain 84/2334 as C. abortus. ¹ Letters/numbers in square brackets indicate designated genotypes. NA, indicates not available in Genbank database

ISSN: 1471-2164