Characterization of Clinical and Environmental Isolates of Pantoea

Abstract

The genus, Pantoea, belongs to a family of Gram negative bacteria that have been found to colonize many hosts, including humans. Pantoea can be found in the general environment, including plants, soil, ground, and clinical or nosocomial environments. A total of 110 strains representing 29 clinical, 43 environmental and 38 plant isolates of Pantoea were studied via multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) to determine their phylogenetic relationships. Further analysis investigated the ability of different isolates to colonize various hosts such as Zea mays and Drosophila melanogaster. Clinical, environmental, and plant isolates were found interspersed within the tree, in contrast to what would be expected in relation to their different areas of isolation. Colonization abilities were also discovered to be similar among the different isolates. Clinical isolates were found to colonize maize crops equally and efficiently as plant isolates, and plant and environmental isolates were discovered to colonize the fruit fly effectively as clinical isolates. Close relatedness and equal colonization abilities among clinical, environmental, and plant isolates suggests that they are capable of multi-host colonization. This suggests that plant isolates may not only be harmful to plants but may also be capable of colonizing other hosts, including humans.