Actinoalloteichus nanshanensis sp. nov., isolated from the rhizosphere of a fig tree (Ficus religiosa).

A Gram-positive, aerobic actinomycete, designated strain NEAU 119(T), was isolated from the rhizosphere of a fig tree and was characterized using a polyphasic approach. The isolate formed branching, non-fragmenting vegetative hyphae and produced black pigment on yeast extract/malt extract (ISP medium 2). The G+C content of the DNA was 76.6 mol%. The organism had chemotaxonomic characteristics typical of the genus Actinoalloteichus and was closely related to the type strains of Actinoalloteichus cyanogriseus, Actinoalloteichus spitiensis and Actinoalloteichus hymeniacidonis, currently the only three recognized species of the genus Actinoalloteichus, sharing 16S rRNA gene similarities of 96.4, 96.6 and 98.1 %, respectively. However, the results of DNA-DNA hybridization studies demonstrated that the novel strain showed only 46.8 % relatedness with the type strain of A. hymeniacidonis. In addition, a set of phenotypic characteristics also readily distinguished strain NEAU 119(T) from the type strains of recognized species of the genus Actinoalloteichus. According to the above data, it is proposed that strain NEAU 119(T) represents a novel species, Actinoalloteichus nanshanensis sp. nov. The type strain of Actinoalloteichus nanshanensis is NEAU 119(T) ( = CGMCC 4.5714(T) = NBRC 106685(T)).