Genotypic and phenotypic metabolic characterization of Salmonella Oranienburg isolated from sediment and river water

Salmonella enterica serovar Oranienburg exhibits metabolic versatility, reflected in its capacity to utilize a broad range of carbon sources under laboratory conditions. Of the 190 carbon sources evaluated using phenotypic microarrays, 61 showed high utilization efficiency based on the combined behavior of the λ, μ, and A parameters. Esters showed consistently high performance across all metabolic curve components, whereas fatty acids, carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, and amino acids displayed more heterogeneous responses. In contrast, amines, amides, alcohols, and polymers generally showed lower utilization. The λ component showed the greatest variability among carbon source groups. Approximately 46.50% of gene occurrences were associated with metabolic functions across the 66 genomes, mainly carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, energy production and conversion, and membrane-associated processes. Genomic comparisons revealed limited variation in metabolic pathway completeness among strains from different isolation years and environmental sources, with only a few strains showing partial loss of specific metabolic pathways. The integration of phenotypic microarray data with comparative genomics indicates that the observed carbon utilization profiles of the four environmental S. Oranienburg isolates under laboratory conditions are consistent with a conserved central metabolic framework across the 66 genomes.