Luteimicrobium album sp. nov., a novel actinobacterium isolated from a lichen collected in Japan, and emended description of the genus Luteimicrobium

Abstract

A novel Gram-stain-positive actinobacterium, designated RI148-Li105 T, was isolated from a lichen sample from Rishiri Island, Japan, and its taxonomic position was investigated by a polyphasic approach. 16S rRNA gene sequencing study indicated that strain RI148-Li105 T was related to the type strain of Luteimicrobium subarcticum, with a similarity of 97.8%. Cells of strain RI148-Li105 T exhibited a rod-coccus cycle. The diagnostic cell-wall diamino acid of this organism was lysine and the peptidoglycan type was found to be A4α. The predominant menaquinones were MK-8(H 2) and MK-9(H 2), and the major fatty acids were iso-C16:0, C17:1 9c and C 17:0. The DNA GC content was 73.6 mol%. The major phenotypic characteristics of strain RI148-Li105 T basically corresponded to those of the genus Luteimicrobium excluding the fatty acid composition. These results suggest that strain RI148-Li105T should be affiliated with the genus Luteimicrobium. Meanwhile, DNA-DNA hybridization and some phenotypic characteristics revealed that the strain differs from L. subarcticum. Therefore, strain RI148-Li105T represents a novel species of the genus Luteimicrobium, for which the name Luteimicrobium album sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Luteimicrobium album is RI148-Li105 T (NBRC 106348 T DSM 24866 T). © 2012 Japan Antibiotics Research Association All rights reserved.