RELATEDNESS OF LEUCONOSTOC SPECIES OF THE LEUCONOSTOC-SENSU-STRICTO LINE OF DESCENT, LEUCONOSTOC-OENOS AND WEISSELLA PARAMESENTEROIDES REVEALED BY NUMERICAL-ANALYSIS OF TOTAL SOLUBLE CELL PROTEIN-PATTERNS

The levels of phenotypic relatedness among Leuconostoc mesenteroides s ubsp. mesenteroides (six strains), Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. de xtranicum (four strains), Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris (t wo strains), Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides (three strains), Leuconos toc lactis (two strains), Leuconostoc argentinum (three strains), Leuc onostoc citreum (two strains), Leuconostoc carnosum, Leuconostoc gelid um and Leuconostoc fallax (one strain of each), Leuconostoc oenos (sev en strains), and Weissella paramesenteroides (two strains) were determ ined by numerical analysis of total soluble cell protein patterns. L. mesenteroides and the other species of the Leuconostoc sensu stricto l ine of descent grouped into separate well defined clusters at r greate r than or equal to 0.80, which linked at a level of r = 0.66. L. oenos clustered at r greater than or equal to 0.81 and grouped with the Leu conostoc sensu stricto spp. at r = 0.62. W. paramesenteroides clustere d with the leuconostocs at r = 0.60. These groupings corresponded well with DNA similarity values recorded among the species.