Actinophytocola glycyrrhizae sp. nov. isolated from the rhizosphere of Glycyrrhiza inflata.

A Gram-stain-positive, aerobic actinomycete, designated strain BMP B8152, was isolated from the rhizosphere of Glycyrrhiza inflata collected ashore, in Kashi, Xinjiang province, northwest PR China. A polyphasic approach was used to establish the taxonomic position of this strain. BMP B8152 was observed to form non-fragmented substrate mycelium, and relatively scanty aerial mycelium with rod-shaped spores. Cell-wall hydrolysates contained meso-diaminopimelic acid, galactose, arabinose, glucose and rhamnose (trace). Mycolic acids were not detected. The diagnostic phospholipids were identified as diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, hydroxyphosphatidylethanolamine, ninhydrin-positive phosphoglycolipid and phosphatidylinositol. The predominant menaquinone and fatty acid were MK-9(H4) and iso-branched hexadecanoate (iso-C16 : 0), respectively. The phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that BMP B8152 formed a distinct monophyletic clade clustered with Actinophytocola timorensisID05-A0653 (98.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Actinophytocola oryzaeGMKU 367 (98.6 %), Actinophytocola corallinaID06-A0464 (98.2 %) and Actinophytocola burenkhanensisMN08-A0203 (97.5 %). In addition, DNA-DNA hybridization values between BMP B8152 and A. timorensisID05-A0653(44.2±3.6 %) and A. oryzaeGMKU 367(36.7±2.3 %) were well below the 70 % limit for species identification. The combined phenotypic and genotypic data indicate that the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Actinophytocola, for which the name Actinophytocola glycyrrhizae sp. nov., is proposed, with the type strain BMP B8152 (=KCTC 49002=CGMCC 4.7433).