To understand the isolation and classification state of actinobacterial
species with valid names for Korean indigenous
isolates, isolation source, regional origin, and taxonomic
affiliation of the isolates were studied. At the time of this writing,
the phylum Actinobacteria consisted of only one class,
Actinobacteria, including five subclasses, 10 orders, 56 families,
and 330 genera. Moreover, new taxa of this phylum
continue to be discovered. Korean actinobacterial species with
a valid name has been reported from 1995 as Tsukamurella
inchonensis isolated from a clinical specimen. In 1997, Streptomyces
seoulensis was validated with the isolate from the
natural Korean environment. Until Feb. 2016, 256 actinobacterial
species with valid names originated from Korean
territory were listed on LPSN. The species were affiliated with
three subclasses (Acidimicrobidae, Actinobacteridae, and
Rubrobacteridae), four orders (Acidimicrobiales, Actinomycetales,
Bifidobacteriales, and Solirubrobacterales), 12 suborders,
36 families, and 93 genera. Most of the species belonged
to the subclass Actinobacteridae, and almost of the
members of this subclass were affiliated with the order Actinomycetales.
A number of novel isolates belonged to the families
Nocardioidaceae, Microbacteriaceae, Intrasporangiaceae,
and Streptomycetaceae as well as the genera Nocardioides,
Streptomyces, and Microbacterium. Twenty-six novel
genera and one novel family, Motilibacteraceae, were created
first with Korean indigenous isolates. Most of the Korean
indigenous actionobacterial species were isolated from natural
environments such as soil, seawater, tidal flat sediment,
and fresh-water. A considerable number of species were isolated
from artificial resources such as fermented foods, wastewater,
compost, biofilm, and water-cooling systems or clinical specimens. Korean indigenous actinobacterial species
were isolated from whole territory of Korea, and especially
a large number of species were from Jeju, Gyeonggi, Jeonnam,
Daejeon, and Chungnam. A large number of novel actinobacterial
species continue to be discovered since the Korean
government is encouraging the search for new bacterial species
and researchers are endeavoring to find out novel strains
from extreme or untapped environments.