Abstract

Strain BS6T, a Gram-positive non-motile bacterium, was isolated from soil in South Korea and characterized to determine its taxonomic position. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain BS6T belonged to the family Propionibacteriaceae in the class Actinobacteria. Strain BS6T showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Microlunatus soli CC-012602T (98.6%) and high sequence similarities with Microlunatus species (94.5–98.6%). Chemotaxonomic data revealed that the predominant fatty acids were anteiso-C17:0, anteiso-C15:0, summed feature 8 (C18:1 ω7c/ω6c), and iso-C16:0. The cell wall peptidoglycan contained LL-diaminopimelic acid, and the major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylglycerol. Based on these data, BS6T (=KCTC 19858T =JCM 17661T =CCARM 9244T =KEMC 9004-079T) should be classified as a type strain of a novel species, for which the name Microlunatus terrae sp. nov. is proposed.

• Keywords: Actinobacteria; Microlunatus; Propionibacteriaceae; taxonomy