Nocardia zapadnayensis sp. nov., isolated from soil

A novel Gram-stain positive, rod-shaped, non-motile and mycolic acid containing strain, FMN18T, isolated from soil, was characterised using a polyphasic approach. The organism showed a combination of morphological, biochemical, physiological and chemotaxonomic properties that were consistent with its classification in the genus Nocardia and it formed a phyletic line in the Nocardia 16S rRNA gene tree. The cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid (type IV) and whole cell sugars were galactose, glucose, arabinose and ribose. The predominant menaquinone was MK-8(H4ω-cyclo). The major phospholipids are diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositol mannosides. Major fatty acids are C16:0, 10-methyl C18:0 (TBSA), C18:1cis9 and C16:1trans9. These chemotaxonomic traits are in good agreement with those known for representatives of the genus Nocardia. The phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain FMN18T showed it to be closely related to Nocardia grenadensis GW5-5797T (99.2 %), Nocardia speluncae N2-11T (99.1 %), Nocardia jinanensis 04-5195T (99.0 %) and Nocardia rhamnosiphila 202GMOT (98.3 %). The phylogenetic analysis based on the gyrB gene sequence of strain FMN18T showed it to be closely related to N. rhamnosiphila 202GMOT (99.0 %), N. grenadensis DSM 45869T (96.6 %), N. jinanensis DSM 45048T (93.1 %), N. carnea IFM 0237T (89.7 %) and N. speluncae DSM 45078T (89.1 %). A combination of DNA–DNA hybridization results and phenotypic properties demonstrated that strain FMN18T was clearly distinguished from all closely related Nocardia species. It is proposed that the organism be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Nocardia, for which the name Nocardia zapadnayensis (type strain FMN18T = DSM 45872T = KCTC 29234T) is proposed.