Comparative genomics of with an emphasis on strain FOL-19 isolated from cheese.

is a member of lactic acid bacteria isolated from various ecological niches. We isolated a novel strain FOL-19 from artisanal Tulum cheese and performed the whole-genome sequencing for FOL-19. Then, genomic characterization of FOL-19 against ten available whole genome sequences of the same species isolated from kimchi, silage, fermented meat, air of cowshed, dairy, and pheasant chyme was performed to uncover the genetic diversity and biotechnological potential of overall species. The average genome size of 2.93 ± 0.1 Mb, GC content of 42.96% ± 0.002, number of CDS of 2905 ± 165, number of tRNA of 56 ± 10, and number of CRISPR elements of 6.55 ± 1.83 was found. Both Type I and II Cas clusters were observed in . No bacteriocin biosynthesis gene clusters were found. All strains harbored at least one plasmid except KCTC 3167. All strains were predicted to carry multiple IS elements. The most common origin of the IS elements was belong to . Comparative genomic analysis of revealed hypervariability at the strain level and the presence of CRISPR/Cas suggests that holds a promising potential for being a reservoir for new CRISPR-based tools. All strains except PH-1 were predicted to harbor and gene clusters encoding industrially relevant traits of reuterin and cobalamin biosynthesis, respectively. These findings put a step forward for the genomic characterization of strains for biotechnological applications via genome-guided strain selection to identify industrially relevant traits.