Legionella felix sp. - A novel Legionella species isolated in Israel from hot tap water

Bacteria of the genus Legionella are natural pathogens of the environment that can cause legionellosis, which can result in severe human pneumonia called Legionnaires’ disease. Here we describe a novel Legionella species isolated from hot tap water. High quality complete genome was generated using a combination of Nanopore and Illumina sequencing approaches. Our novel Legionella isolate possesses a 4,071,709 bp chromosome and a single novel large incF conjugative plasmid of 160,437 bp. Interestingly, the chromosome encodes for 14 secondary metabolites biosynthetic gene clusters, more than any known other Legionella sp. The novel plasmid encodes for multiple genes that confer resistance to heavy metals. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the genome of the new isolate differs from any previously described Legionella species. The closest related species to our isolate is Legionella cherrii . The name proposed for the new specie is Legionella felix in honor of Dr. Arthur Felix (1887-1956), a pioneering microbiologist, and member of the Royal Society of UK, who established the National Public Health Laboratory in Tel Aviv. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.