Phylogeny of Clostridium spp. Based on Conservative Genes and Comparisons with Other Trees

Abstract

The genus Clostridium includes a group of anaerobic bacteria, which have remarkable application prospects in cellulose degradation and industrial production or are important pathogens. In this study, the phylogeny of Clostridium spp., whose complete genomes were reported, was inferred based on concatenation of 49 conservative genes, including ribosomal protein genes. The results indicated that the topology of the genomic tree was consistent with the clusters of the species in the ribosomal protein tree and 16S rRNA trees. Based on the alignment and phylogenetic analysis of 49 conservative selected genes and 27218 final nucleotide characters, the genomic tree supported classification results and reassignments of some species in previous works, including other genomic trees. The phylogenetic deduction was not only the classification skeleton of the genus Clostridium, but also the relationship of those species in genes involved in basic cell cycles.