Transfer of Brevibacterium divaricatum DSM 20297T, "Brevibacterium flavum" DSM 20411, "Brevibacterium lactofermentum" DSM 20412 and DSM 1412, and Corynebacterium glutamicum and their distinction by rRNA gene restriction patterns.

The results of DNA-DNA hybridization and chemotaxonomic studies indicated that the glutamic acid producers Brevibacterium divaricatum DSM 20297T (T=type strain), "Brevibacterium flavum" DSM 20411, "Brevibacterium lactofermentum" DSM 1412 and DSM 20412, Corynebacterium lilium DSM 20137T, and Corynebacterium glutamicum DSM 20300T and DSM 20163 are members of the same species. It is proposed that all of these strains should be classified in the species Corynebacterium glutamicum. Another glutamic acid-producing strain, Corynebacterium callunae DSM 20147T, was not related at the species level to C. glutamicum and should retain its separate species status. A restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis in which oligonucleotides targeted against conserved regions of 16S and 23S rRNA genes were used as hybridizing probes distinguished the individual strains. This method may be a helpful tool for strain identification.