Pseudonocardia kunmingensis sp. nov., an actinobacterium isolated from surface-sterilized roots of Artemisia annua L.

Abstract

A Gram-positive, aerobic, actinobacterial strain with rod-shaped spores, designated YIM 63158 T, was isolated from the surface-sterilized roots of Artemisia annua L. collected from Yunnan province, south-west China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain YIM 63158 T belonged to the genus Pseudonocardia. The closest neighbours were 'Pseudonocardia sichuanensis' KLBMP 1115 (99.9% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Pseudonocardia adelaidensis EUM 221 T (99.1%) and Pseudonocardia zijingensis DSM 44774 T (98.8%); sequence similarities to other members of the genus Pseudonocardia ranged from 98.6 to 94.4%. The chemotaxonomic characteristics, such as the cell-wall diaminopimelic acid, wholecell sugars, fatty acid components and major menaquinones, suggested that the isolate belonged to the genus Pseudonocardia. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 73.3 mol%. On the basis of physiological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic data, including low DNA-DNA relatedness between the isolate and other members of the genus Pseudonocardia, it is proposed that strain YIM 63158 T represents a novel species in this genus, with the name Pseudonocardia kunmingensis sp. nov. The type strain is YIM 63158T (5DSM 45301 T= AA 208081 T).