Transfer of polychlorophenol-degrading Rhodococcus chlorophenolicus (Apajalahti et al. 1986) to the genus Mycobacterium as Mycobacterium chlorophenolicum comb. nov.

Three independently isolated polychlorophenol-degrading strains of bacteria were characterized on the basis of chemotaxonomic and nutritional characteristics. Previously, these strains were assigned to the species Rhodococcus chlorophenolicus, which was described on the basis of the properties of one of the strains, strain PCP-I(T) (T = type strain) (J. H. A. Apajalahti, P. Kärpänoja, and M. S. Salkinoja-Salonen, Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol 36:246-251, 1986). However, the results of analyses of mycolic acids suggested that these organisms should be transferred to the genus Mycobacterium as Mycobacterium chlorophenolicum. These bacteria have meso-diaminopimelic acid, arabinose, and galactose as cell wall constituents, mycolic acids containing 75 to 80 carbon atoms, and a predominant menaquinone with nine isoprenoid units and one hydrogenated double bond. The fatty acids include mainly straight-chain saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids with 10 to 18 carbon atoms and a large proportion of 10-methyloctadecanoic acid (tuberculostearic acid). The G+C contents of the DNAs of the three strains range from 67 to 69 mol%.