Characterisation of Streptomyces spp. isolated from water-damaged buildings.

Abstract Saprophytic Streptomyces spp. common in soil and producing biologically active compounds have been related to abnormal microbial growth in buildings where occupants may have health problems. We characterised 11 randomly selected water-damaged building isolates. The 16S rDNA sequence similarity was over 95.4% between strains so that seven, three, and one sequences had greater than 99.8, 99.7 and 99.7% similarity with those of Streptomyces griseus ATCC 10137 (Y15501), Streptomyces albidoflavus DSM 40455(T) (Z76676), and Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) (Y00411), respectively. Although differences in morphology, pigmentation, fatty acids, biological activity and pH tolerance indicated that strains did not necessarily match with three single phenotypes, they all appeared to belong to two or three branches of Streptomyces spp. most common environmental isolates.