sp. nov. and sp. nov., isolated from the gut of the fungus-growing termite .
René Benndorf, Jan W Schwitalla, Karin Martin, Z Wilhelm de Beer, John Vollmers, Anne-Kristin Kaster, Michael Poulsen, Christine Beemelmanns
Author Information
René Benndorf: Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology e. V., Hans-Knöll-Institute, Beutenbergstraße 11a, 07745 Jena, Germany.
Jan W Schwitalla: Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology e. V., Hans-Knöll-Institute, Beutenbergstraße 11a, 07745 Jena, Germany.
Karin Martin: Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology e. V., Hans-Knöll-Institute, Beutenbergstraße 11a, 07745 Jena, Germany.
Z Wilhelm de Beer: Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Forestry and Agriculture Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, 0028 Hatfield, South Africa.
John Vollmers: Institute for Biological Interfaces (IBG 5), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann-von- Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
Anne-Kristin Kaster: Institute for Biological Interfaces (IBG 5), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann-von- Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
Michael Poulsen: University of Copenhagen, Department of Biology, Section for Ecology and Evolution, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen East, Denmark.
Christine Beemelmanns: Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology e. V., Hans-Knöll-Institute, Beutenbergstraße 11a, 07745 Jena, Germany.
The taxonomic positions of two novel aerobic, Gram-stain-positive Actinobacteria, designated RB20 and RB56, were determined using a polyphasic approach. Both were isolated from the fungus-farming termite . Results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that both strains are members of the genus with the closest phylogenetic neighbours JCM12860 (98.9 %) and DSM44481 (98.5 %) for RB20 and DSM 44801 (98.3 %), DSM 44290 (98.3 %) and JCM 19832 (98.2 %) for RB56. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization (DDH) between RB20 and JCM12860 and DSM 44481 resulted in similarity values of 33.9 and 22.0 %, respectively. DDH between RB56 and DSM44801 and DSM44290 showed similarity values of 20.7 and 22.3 %, respectively. In addition, wet-lab DDH between RB56 and JCM19832 resulted in 10.2 % (14.5 %) similarity. Both strains showed morphological and chemotaxonomic features typical for the genus , such as the presence of -diaminopimelic acid (Apm) within the cell wall, arabinose and galactose as major sugar components within whole cell-wall hydrolysates, the presence of mycolic acids and major phospholipids (diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol), and the predominant menaquinone MK-8 (H, ω-cyclo). The main fatty acids for both strains were hexadecanoic acid (C), 10-methyloctadecanoic acid (10-methyl C) and -9-octadecenoic acid (C ω9). We propose two novel species within the genus : sp. nov. with the type strain RB20 (=VKM Ac-2841=NRRL B65541) and sp. nov. with the type strain RB56 (=VKM Ac-2842=NRRL B65542).
