[Chemotaxonomic characteristics of bacteria belonging to the genus Nocardia isolated from Ukrainian SSR soils].

From soils of the Ukrainian SSR bearing oil and without it, 241 strains of Nocardia were isolated on mineral media containing n-alkanes C12-C22. The strains were divided into two groups: actinoid (N. asteroides, N. flavescens) and bacterium-like (N. rubropertincta, N. flava, N. ucrainica, N. salmonicolor, N. rubra, N. erythropolis, Nocardia ssp). Chemotaxonomic characteristics (the presence in the cells of galactose, arabinose, mesodiaminopimelic acid, lipid LCN-A) were used to differentiate Nocardia from other genera of actinomycetes and coryneforms and to confirm the taxonomy of museum strains. The majority of the Nocardia cultures belongs to the groups "asteroides" and "rhodochrous" according to location of spots of lipid LCN-A on chromatograms. The strains of N. asteroides and complex "M." rhodochrous may belong to both groups. A small number of strains belongs to the group which is represented by N. calcarea 41 (NCIB 8863).