Pseudomonas pertucinogena sp.nov., an Organism Previously Misidentified as Bordetella pertussis

The morphological and biochemical attributes of two organisms, American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) strains 190 and 6627, originally identified as Bordetella pertussis, were studied. The guanine-plus-cytosine content of the deoxyribonucleic acid of each strain is 60 mol%. The deoxyribonucleic acid homology between the two strains is 99%. The strains are quite similar phenotypically and genetically, and they are regarded here as belonging to one and the same species. Although the two strains produce pertucin, a bacteriocin active against B. pertussis strains in the smooth phase, they possess the characteristics of the genus Pseudomonas as defined by Shewan and Haynes. However, ATCC 190 and 6627 could not be placed in any of the Pseudomonas species described in the literature. Therefore, these strains are regarded as belonging to a new species, for which we propose the new name Pseudomonas pertucinogena. The type strain of P. pertucinogena is ATCC 190.