Streptomyces albiflavescens sp. nov., an actinomycete isolated from soil

Two actinobacterial strains, m20T and z8, were isolated from soil taken from rainforest areas/tropic forest region, Yunnan Province, south-west China. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities and DNA–DNA relatedness values between strains m20T and z8 were 100 and 88.2 %, respectively, which indicated that these two strains should be classified as the same species. The taxonomic position of the strains was determined by a polyphasic approach. Morphological and chemotaxonomic features of the strains were consistent with those of the genus Streptomyces . A phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strains m20T and z8 formed an evolutionary branch within the genus Streptomyces and shared relatively high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values with other members of this genus, including ‘Streptomyces siamensis’ NBRC 108799 (98.95 %), Streptomyces graminilatus NBRC 108882T (98.25 %), Streptomyces seoulensis NBRC 16668T (98.11 %), Streptomyces peucetius ATCC 29050T (98.11 %) and Streptomyces hygroscopicus subsp. ossamyceticus ATCC 15420T (98.11 %). DNA–DNA relatedness values between strain m20T and the five above-mentioned strains were 56.3, 55.1, 52.8 , 50.1 and 48.4 %, respectively. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic properties, strains m20T and z8 could be distinguished from phylogenetically related members of the genus Streptomyces . The isolates thus merit species status within the genus Streptomyces , for which the name http://dx.doi.org/10.1601/nm.6817 Streptomyces albiflavescens sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is m20T ( = CGMCC 4.7111T = KCTC 29196T). Strain z8 ( = CGMCC 4.7112 = KCTC 29197) is a reference strain.