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

Abstract

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 3,913,681 bp chromosome, (GC content 38.78% Mol) and a single novel large incF conjugative plasmid of 160,500 bp (GC content 37.97%). 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 including average nucleotide identity (ANI) and genome-based taxonomy computation 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.