Genomic evidence that Vibrio inhibens is a heterotypic synonym of Vibrio jasicida. Vibrio jasicida

Vibrio inhibens is a recently described species in the genus Vibrio (Vibrionaceae, Gammaproteobacteria). The species was shown to be closely related to Vibrio in the so-called Harveyi clade. The clade includes at least 11 closely related species with similar physiological and biochemical properties. Due to these similarities, Harveyi clade species are difficult to characterize taxonomically. So far, phenotypic and genotypic properties of V. inhibens type strains were compared to six Harveyi clade species, leaving a possibility that V. inhibens could be a synonym of another validly described species. In this study, taxonomic status of V. inhibens was analyzed using genomic approaches. Whole genome sequence of the type strain of V. inhibens, CECT 7692T, was obtained and analyzed. Calculations of average nucleotide identity (ANI) shown that strain CECT 7692T has ANI of 97.5% or more to five strains of V. jasicida, but ANI lower than 93.5% to other Harveyi clade Vibrio. Evolutionary analysis based on nucleotide sequences of 133 protein coding genes revealed strain CECT 7692T to be closely related to five V. jasicida strains. Based on these results, Vibrio inhibens is proposed as a later heterotypic synonym of V. jasicida.