Emended description of the genus Pantoea, description of four species from human clinical samples, Pantoea septica sp. nov., Pantoea eucrina sp. nov., Pantoea brenneri sp. nov. and Pantoea conspicua sp. nov., and transfer of Pectobacterium cypripedii (Hori 1911) Brenner et al. 1973 emend. Hauben et al. 1998 to the genus as Pantoea cypripedii comb. nov.

Bacterial strains belonging to DNA hybridization groups (HG) II, IV and V, in the Erwinia herbicola-Enterobacter agglomerans complex, of Brenner et al. [Int J Syst Bacteriol 34 (1984), 45-55] were suggested previously to belong to the genus Pantoea, but have never been formally described and classified. Additionally, it has been shown in several studies that Pectobacterium cypripedii is more closely related to species of Pantoea than to those of Pectobacterium. In this study, the phylogenetic positions of Brenner's DNA HG II, IV and V and Pectobacterium cypripedii were re-examined by both 16S rRNA gene sequencing and multilocus sequence analyses (MLSA) based on the gyrB, rpoB, atpD and infB genes. The analyses revealed that DNA HG II, IV and V and Pectobacterium cypripedii form five separate branches within the genus Pantoea (strains from HG V were split into two branches). DNA-DNA hybridization data further confirmed that DNA HG II, IV and V constitute four separate species. Pectobacterium cypripedii was shown to be a close phylogenetic relative of Pantoea dispersa and DNA HG IV by both 16S rRNA gene sequence and MLSA analyses. Biochemical analyses performed on strains from DNA HG II, IV and V and Pectobacterium cypripedii confirmed their taxonomic position within the genus Pantoea and revealed phenotypic characteristics that allow the differentiation of these species from each other and from their closest phylogenetic neighbours. It is proposed to emend the description of the genus Pantoea and to describe Pantoea septica sp. nov. for DNA HG II (type strain LMG 5345(T) =BD 874(T) =CDC 3123-70(T)), Pantoea eucrina sp. nov. for DNA HG IV (type strain LMG 2781(T) =BD 872(T) =CDC 1741-71(T) =LMG 5346(T)), Pantoea brenneri sp. nov. for strains of DNA HG V excluding LMG 24534 (type strain LMG 5343(T) =BD 873(T) =CDC 3482-71(T)) and Pantoea conspicua sp. nov. for the remaining strain of DNA HG V (type strain LMG 24534(T) =BD 805(T) =CDC 3527-71(T)) and to transfer Pectobacterium cypripedii to the genus as Pantoea cypripedii comb. nov. (type strain LMG 2657(T) =ATCC 29267(T) =DSM 3873(T) =LMG 2655(T)).