Streptomyces lichenis sp. nov., isolated from lichen.

A new actinobacterial strain, LCR6-01, was isolated from a lichen sample collected from Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Its taxonomic position was determined using a polyphasic approach. The strain had morphological characteristics and chemotaxonomic properties identical to those of members of the genus Streptomyces. The predominant menaquinones were MK-9(H6) and MK-9(H8). The major fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, iso-C14 : 0 and C16 : 0. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified phosphoglycolipid, an unidentified phospholipid and an unidentified lipid. The genomic DNA G+C content was 74.5 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences suggested that the strain belonged to the genus Streptomyces. The strain showed highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Streptomyces palmae TBRC 1999 (98.6 %), Streptomyces misionensis JCM 4497 (98.6 %), Streptomyces matensis JCM 4268 (98.5 %), Streptomyces althioticus KCTC 9752 (98.5 %) and Streptomyces wuyuanensis KCTC 29112 (98.4 %). DNA-DNA relatedness values among the strain and closely related Streptomyces species were below 70 %. On the basis of the phenotypic characteristics and genotypic distinctiveness, strain LCR6-01 is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces lichenis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LCR6-01 (=KCTC 39908=TISTR 2500).