Asanoa endophytica sp. nov., an endophytic actinomycete isolated from the rhizome of Boesenbergia rotunda.

A novel Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, endophytic actinomycete, designated strain BR3-1T, which produced spore chains borne on the tips of short sporophores, was isolated from the rhizome of Boesenbergia rotunda collected from Udon Thani province, Thailand. This strain was investigated for its taxonomic position using a polyphasic approach. The strain contained 3-hydroxydiaminopimelic acid and meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The whole-cell sugars comprised glucose, mannose, rhamnose, ribose and xylose. Phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositol mannosides were found as the characteristic phospholipids. The predominant menaquinones were MK-10(H8) and MK-10(H6). The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C16 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C15 : 0. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 71.4 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain BR3-1T belonged to the genus Asanoa and was most closely related to Asanoa ishikariensis (99.39 %), Asanoa iriomotensis (99.31 %), Asanoa siamensis (99.17 %), Asanoa ferruginea (98.84 %) and Asanoa hainanensis (98.71 %). The DNA-DNA relatedness value between strain BR3-1T and its phylogenetically closest relatives was in the range of 15.4 % ± 1.2 to 45.8 % ± 2.6. In addition, some physiological and biochemical properties indicated that strain BR3-1T could be readily distinguished from all type strains in the genus Asanoa. Thus, strain BR3-1T should be classified as a representative of a novel species, for which the name Asanoa endophytica sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BR3-1T ( = BCC 66355T = NBRC 110002T).