FurIOS: A Web-Based Tool for Identification of Species Using the Gene.

Gene based methods for identification of species from the family have been developed during the last decades to address the limitations of the commonly used 16S rRNA gene phylogeny. Recently, we found that the gene () can be used as a single identification marker providing species discrimination, consistent with multi-locus sequencing analyses and whole genome phylogenies. To allow for broader and easy use of this marker, we have developed an online prediction service that allows the identification of species based on their -sequence. The input is a DNA sequence that can be uploaded on the web service; the output is a table containing the strain identifier, -value, and percentage of identity for each of the matches with rows colored in green for hits with high probability of being the same species. The service is available on the web at: http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/furIOS-1.0/. The -sequences can be derived either from genome sequences or from PCR-amplification of the genomic region encoding the gene. We have used 191 strains identified as based on 16S rRNA gene sequence to test the PCR method and the web service on a large dataset. We were able to classify 171 of 191 strains at the species level and 20 strains remained unclassified. Furthermore, the phylogenetics and subsequent DNA-DNA hybridization demonstrated that two strains (ATCC 33789 and ZS-139) previously identified as are more closely related to and , respectively. FurIOS is an easy-to-use online service that allows the identification of bacteria from the family at the species level using the gene as a single marker. Its simplistic design and straightforward pipeline makes it suitable for any research environment, from academia to industry.