Zimmermannella helvola gen. nov., sp. nov., Zimmermannella alba sp. nov., Zimmermannella bifida sp. nov., Zimmermannella faecalis sp. nov. and Leucobacter albus sp. nov., novel members of the family Microbacteriaceae.

Seven strains of actinobacteria, isolated from soil, wounds, urine, cow faeces, human blood and butter, were characterized by a polyphasic approach to clarify their taxonomic position. On the basis of chemotaxonomy, 16S rRNA gene analysis and DNA relatedness, strain IAM 14851T can be classified within the cluster of the genus Leucobacter and is proposed as a novel species, Leucobacter albus sp. nov., with strain IAM 14851T (=TISTR 1515T) as the type strain. The other six strains formed a phylogenetically separate branch in the family Microbacteriaceae, having the following characteristics: the major menaquinones are MK-8 to MK-10, the DNA G + C content ranges from 62 to 68 mol%, the diamino acid in the cell wall is diaminobutyric acid and the muramic acid in the peptidoglycan is of the acetyl type. The major fatty acids are 12-methyltetradecanoic acid (anteiso-C(15 : 0)), hexadecanoic acid (C(16 : 0)), 14-methyl-pentadecanoic acid (iso-C(16 : 0)) and 14-methyl-hexadecanoic acid (anteiso-C(17 : 0)). On the basis of morphological, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics, together with DNA-DNA hybridization and 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison, the novel genus Zimmermannella gen. nov. is proposed for these six strains. Four novel species are proposed: Zimmermannella helvola sp. nov. (type species; type strain IAM 14726T = NBRC 15775T = DSM 20419T = TISTR 1509T), Zimmermannella alba sp. nov. (type strain IAM 14724T = NBRC 15616T = TISTR 1510T), Zimmermannella bifida sp. nov. (type strain IAM 14848T = TISTR 1511T) and Zimmermannella faecalis sp. nov. (type strain IAM 15030T = NBRC 15706T = ATCC 13722T = TISTR 1514T).