Pseudosporangium ferrugineum gen. nov., sp. nov., a new member of the family Micromonosporaceae.

An actinomycete strain 3-44-a(19)(T) was isolated from sandy soil collected in Bangladesh. The strain formed irregular pseudosporangia directly from aggregated spore chains above the rudimentary aerial mycelium. The pseudosporangia developed singly. Each pseudosporangium contained many small, non-motile, spherical, smooth-surfaced spores in chains. Strain 3-44-a(19)(T) contained meso- and 3-hydroxydiaminopimelic acid in the cell wall and MK-9(H(6)) as the major menaquinone and arabinose, galactose, glucose, mannose, ribose and xylose were present in the whole-cell hydrolysate. The diagnostic phospholipid was phosphatidylethanolamine and iso-C(15 : 0) (24.6 %), C(18 : 1)omega9c (15.5 %), C(16 : 0) (10.6 %), C(18 : 0) (9.4 %), iso-C(16 : 0) (8.6 %) and anteiso-C(15 : 0) (6.0 %) were detected as the major cellular fatty acids. The acyl type of the peptidoglycan was glycolyl and mycolic acids were not detected. The G+C content of the DNA was 73.6 mol%. The chemotaxonomic data indicated that the strain belonged to the family Micromonosporaceae. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence data also suggested that strain 3-44-a(19)(T) fell within the family Micromonosporaceae. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis and characteristic patterns of 16S rRNA gene signature nucleotides as well as morphological and chemotaxonomic data, this strain should be classified as a member of a new genus and species, Pseudosporangium ferrugineum gen. nov., sp. nov., in the family Micromonosporaceae. The type strain of Pseudosporangium ferrugineum is 3-44-a(19)(T) (=JCM 14710(T) =MTCC9007(T)).