Luethyella okanaganae gen. nov., sp. nov., a Novel Genus and Species of the Family Microbacteriaceae Isolated from the Insect Okanagana rimosa.

The entomopathogen "Corynebacterium okanaganae" was described by Lüthy in 1974 but the name was never validly published. Phylogenetic analysis employing 16S rRNA gene sequences demonstrate that "Corynebacterium okanaganae" is not a member of the genus Corynebacterium but related to members of the Microbacteriaceae being most closely related to, but distinct from, members of the genera Rathayibacter, Mycetocola and Curtobacterium. The bacterium is an aerobic, Gram-positive staining, rod-shaped actinobacterium with the cell-wall peptidoglycan based on 2,4, diaminobutyric acid as the diagnostic diamino acid. The predominant menaquinones are MK-10, MK-11 and MK-12, and the principle polar lipids are phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The major fatty acids consist of anteiso-C15:0 and anteiso-C17:0. Therefore, based upon the phylogenetic, biochemical, and chemotaxonomic information, the organism merits recognition as a novel species and genus in the family Microbacteriaceae, for which the name Luethyella okanaganae gen. nov. sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LBG B4405T = CCUG 43304T = NCIMB 702272T.