Classification of 'Streptomyces tenebrarius' Higgins and Kastner as Streptoalloteichus tenebrarius nom. rev., comb. nov., and emended description of the genus Streptoalloteichus.

Phylogenetic analysis of 'Streptomyces tenebrarius' NBRC 16177 on the basis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that this organism was related to Streptoalloteichus hindustanus. It possessed glutamic acid, alanine and meso-diaminopimelic acid as cell-wall amino acids, galactose, mannose and glucose as whole-cell sugars and the menaquinones MK-10(H(6)), MK-10(H(4)), MK-9(H(6)) and MK-9(H(4)). The chemotaxonomic characteristics of this strain were consistent with those of the genus Streptoalloteichus. DNA-DNA hybridization, physiological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic data revealed that 'Streptomyces tenebrarius' can be easily differentiated from the other member of the genus Streptoalloteichus and that it merits separate species status. The phenotypic and genetic evidence reveals that 'Streptomyces tenebrarius' represents a novel species of the genus Streptoalloteichus; the name Streptoalloteichus tenebrarius (ex Higgins and Kastner) nom. rev., comb. nov. is proposed for this species. The type strain is NBRC 16177(T) (=ATCC 17920(T) =DSM 40477(T) =JCM 4838(T) =NRRL B-12390(T) =ISP 5477(T)).