Pseudonocardia pini sp. nov., an endophytic actinobacterium isolated from roots of the pine tree Callitris preissii.

A Gram-positive, aerobic, actinobacterial strain with rod-shaped spores, CAP47R, which was isolated from the surface-sterilized root of a native pine tree (Callitris preissii), grown in South Australia is described. The major cellular fatty acid of this strain was iso-H-C and major menaquinone was MK-8(H). The diagnostic diamino acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan was identified as meso-diaminopimelic acid. These chemotaxonomic data confirmed the affiliation of strain CAP47R to the genus Pseudonocardia. Phylogenetic evaluation based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis placed this strain in the family Pseudonocardiaceae, being most closely related to Pseudonocardia xishanensis JCM 17906 (98.8%), Pseudonocardia oroxyli DSM 44984 (98.7%), Pseudonocardia thailandensis CMU-NKS-70 (98.7%), and Pseudonocardia ailaonensis DSM 44979 (97.9%). The results of the polyphasic study which contain genome comparisons of ANIb, ANIm, and digital DNA-DNA hybridization revealed the differentiation of strain CAP47R from the closest species with validated names. This strain represents a novel species and the name proposed for this microorganism is Pseudonocardia pini sp. nov., indicating the source of this actinobacterium from a pine tree. The type strain is CAP47R (= DSM 108967 = NRRL B-65534). Genome mining revealed that this strain contained a variety of genes encoding enzymes that can degrade hazardous chemicals.