Phylogenomics-based reclassification of Brevibacterium celere and Brevibacterium sandarakinum as later heterotypic synonyms of Brevibacterium sanguinis and Brevibacterium picturae, respectively.

The present study used genome-based approaches to clarify the taxonomic status of four closely related species of the genus Brevibacterium. At the time of this study, genomic information for 36 validly published type strains with correct names was available. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values for Brevibacterium celere KMM 3637T and Brevibacterium sanguinis CF63T are 99.26%, 98.64% and 88.20%, respectively. For the second pair, Brevibacterium sandarakinum 01-Je-003T and Brevibacterium picturae LMG 22061T, these values are 97.97%, 97.81% and 81.80%, respectively. These findings indicate that B. celere KMM 3637ᵀ and B. sanguinis CF63ᵀ belong to the same species, as do B. sandarakinum 01-Je-003ᵀ and B. picturae LMG 22061ᵀ. Based on these evidences, we propose the reclassification of Brevibacterium celere Ivanova et al. 2004 and Brevibacterium sandarakinum Kämpfer et al. 2010 as later heterotypic synonyms of Brevibacterium sanguinis Wauters et al. 2004 and Brevibacterium picturae Heyrman et al. 2004, respectively.