The family Micrococcaceae

Abstract

The family Micrococcaceae is well-defined family within the order Actinomycetales. Members of the family are defined by a wide range of morphological and chemotaxonomic properties, such as polar lipids, fatty acids, amino acids of peptidoglycan, and whole-cell sugars which are used for the delineation of genera and species. All genera of the family Micrococcaceae are characterized by the occurrence of L-lysine as diagnostic diamino acid of the type A peptidoglycan and predominance of iso- and anteiso-branched cellular fatty acids but differ markedly in the structures of their interpeptide bridges and in the composition of their respiratory quinones predominantly with 7-10 isoprenoid units in the side chain, which are either completely unsaturated, dihydrogenated, or a combination of both. Polar lipid profiles usually contain phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, and unknown glycolipid(s). Genera affiliated with this family are Acaricomes, Arthrobacter, Auritidibacter, Citricoccus, Enteractinococcus, Kocuria, Micrococcus, Nesterenkonia, Renibacterium, Rothia, Sinomonas, Yaniella, and Zhihengliuella. Members of the family are mainly found in mammalian skin, clinical specimen, blood cultures, and in various soil samples as well as marine environments (Collins et al., Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 50:1247-1251, 2000; Garrity et al. (2005) The revised road map to the manual. In: Brenner DJ, Krieg NR, Staley JT (eds) Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology, 2nd edn. The Proteobacteria, vol 2. Part A, Introductory essays. Springer, New York, pp 159-206; Zhou et al., J Syst Evol Microbiol 58:1304-1307, 2009).