Agromyces aurantiacus sp nov., isolated from a Chinese primeval forest

A catalase-negative actinomycete, strain YIM21741(T), was isolated from a soil sample collected from a primeval forest at Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China. Analysis of 16S rDNA showed the strain to be related to members of the genus Agromyces, with which it also shares morphological characteristics, e.g. branching hyphae breaking into diphtheroid and rod-like, irregular, non-motile fragments and a peptidoglycan containing the diagnostic amino acid 2,4-diamino-n-butyric acid. Whole-cell hydrolysates of strain YIM 21741(T) contained rhamnose and small quantities of glucose, galactose and mannose. The major menaquinone was MK-12, while MK-13 and MK-12 were minor components. Diagnostic phospholipids were phosphaticlylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The G + C content of the DNA was 72(.)8 mol%. Physiological and biochemical characteristics reveal strain YIM 21741(T) to be different from all validly described species of the genus Agromyces. As DNA-DNA similarity values between this isolate and the phylogenetically neighbouring type strains of Agromyces bracchium and Agromyces luteolus are only moderate, the novel species Agromyces aurantiacus sp. nov. is proposed with strain YIM 21741(T) (=CCTCC 001012(T) =AS 4.1717(T) =DSM 14598(T)) as the type strain.