Robust demarcation of 17 distinct species clades, proposed as novel genera, by phylogenomics and comparative genomic analyses: description of sp. nov. and proposal for an emended genus limiting it only to the members of the Subtilis and Cereus clades of species.

To clarify the evolutionary relationships and classification of species, comprehensive phylogenomic and comparative analyses were performed on >300 genomes. Multiple genomic-scale phylogenetic trees were initially reconstructed to identify different monophyletic clades of species. In parallel, detailed analyses were performed on protein sequences of genomes to identify conserved signature indels (CSIs) that are specific for each of the identified clades. We show that in different reconstructed trees, most of the species, in addition to the Subtilis and Cereus clades, consistently formed 17 novel distinct clades. Additionally, some species reliably grouped with the genera and . The distinctness of identified species clades is independently strongly supported by 128 identified CSIs which are unique characteristics of these clades, providing reliable means for their demarcation. Based on the strong phylogenetic and molecular evidence, we are proposing that these 17 species clades should be recognized as novel genera, with the names gen. nov. gen. nov., gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov. gen. nov., gen. nov. and gen. nov. We also propose to transfer 's' to sp. nov. (type strain: NB22=JCM 17569=DSM 26768). Additionally, we report 31 CSIs that are unique characteristics of either the members of the Subtilis clade (containing the type species ) or the Cereus clade (containing and ). As most species which are not part of these two clades can now be assigned to other genera, we are proposing an emended description of the genus to restrict it to only the members of the Subtilis and Cereus clades.