Photorhabdus aballayi sp. nov. and Photorhabdus luminescens subsp. venezuelensis subsp. nov., isolated from Heterorhabditis amazonensis entomopathogenic nematodes.

Six Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterial strains isolated from entomopathogenic nematodes were characterized to determine their taxonomic position. 16S rRNA and gene sequences indicate that they belong to the class , family and genus , and that some of them are conspecifics. Two of them, APURE and JAR, were selected for further molecular characterization using whole genome- and whole-proteome-based phylogenetic reconstructions and sequence comparisons. Phylogenetic reconstructions using whole genome and whole proteome sequences show that strains APURE and JAR are closely related to subsp. ATCC 29999 and to subsp. MEX47-22. Moreover, digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between APURE and subsp. ATCC 29999, APURE and subsp. MEX47-22, and APURE and JAR are 61.6, 61.2 and 64.1 %, respectively. These values are below the 70 % divergence threshold that delimits prokaryotic species. dDDH scores between JAR and subsp. ATCC 29999 and between JAR and subsp. MEX47-22 are 71.9 and 74.8 %, respectively. These values are within the 70 and 79 % divergence thresholds that delimit prokaryotic subspecies. Based on these genomic divergence values, APURE and JAR represent two different taxa, for which we propose the names: sp. nov. with APURE (=CCM 9236 =CCOS 2019) as type strain and subsp. subsp. nov. with JAR (=CCM 9235 =CCOS 2021) as type strain. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the biodiversity of an important bacterial group with enormous biotechnological and agricultural potential.