Nocardiopsis halotolerans sp. nov., isolated from salt marsh soil in Kuwait.

A polyphasic taxonomic study of a halotolerant micro-organism, isolated from Kuwait salt marsh soil, revealed that this strain represents a novel Nocardiopsis species. The strain produced substrate and aerial mycelium, grew at 28-35 degrees C in salt concentrations of 0-15% and was slightly keratinolytic. Results of the 165 rDNA sequence comparison revealed that strain F100T clustered with strains of the genus Nocardiopsis. This is consistent with other data such as: (i) growth characteristics, i.e. the formation of a white to yellow aerial mycelium and the typical zig-zag form of hyphae, which fragment when ageing; (ii) the presence of DL-diaminopimelic acid and glucose plus ribose in whole-cell hydrolysates; (iii) the presence of phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl inositol, phosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidyl methylethanolamine and diphosphatidyl glycerol in polar lipid extracts; (iv) the presence of menaquinones MK-10(H(0-6)) and MK-11(H(0-6)) in the non-polar fraction; (v) the presence of iso/anteiso-branched plus 10-methyl-branched fatty acids, showing the diagnostic combination for Nocardiopsis spp. of 14-methyl-hexadecanoic acid (18%), oleic acid (9%) and tuberculostearic acid (2%); and (v) the absence of mycolic acids. Analysis of 16S rDNA revealed that strain F100T represents a distinct taxon within Nocardiopsis. Based upon phenotypic differences to other members of the genus, a novel species, Nocardiopsis halotolerans sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain of the species is F100T (= DSM 44410T = NRRL B-24124T).