Reanalysis of Lactobacillus paracasei Lbs2 Strain and Large-Scale Comparative Genomics Places Many Strains into Their Correct Taxonomic Position

Lactobacillus paracasei are diverse Gram-positive bacteria that are very closely related to Lactobacillus casei, belonging to the Lactobacillus casei group. Due to extreme genome similarities between L. casei and L. paracasei, many strains have been cross placed in the other group. We had earlier sequenced and analyzed the genome of Lactobacillus paracasei Lbs2, but mistakenly identified it as L. casei. We re-analyzed Lbs2 reads into a 2.5 MB genome that is 91.28% complete with 0.8% contamination, which is now suitably placed under L. paracasei based on Average Nucleotide Identity and Average Amino Acid Identity. We took 74 sequenced genomes of L. paracasei from GenBank with assembly sizes ranging from 2.3 to 3.3 MB and genome completeness between 88% and 100% for comparison. The pan-genome of 75 L. paracasei strains hold 15,945 gene families (21,5232 genes), while the core genome contained about 8.4% of the total genes (243 gene families with 18,225 genes) of pan-genome. Phylogenomic analysis based on core gene families revealed that the Lbs2 strain has a closer relationship with L. paracasei subsp. tolerans DSM20258. Finally, the in-silico analysis of the L. paracasei Lbs2 genome revealed an important pathway that could underpin the production of thiamin, which may contribute to the host energy metabolism.