Mycobacterium hodleri sp. nov., a new member of the fast-growing mycobacteria capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

A bacterial strain isolated from a fluoranthene-polluted soil was characterized with respect to its metabolic and chemotaxonomic properties, and its phylogenetic position was determined. This bacterium exhibits all of the genus-specific properties of the genus Mycobacterium and clusters phylogenetically with the group of fast-growing mycobacteria. On the basis of its unique fatty acid pattern, the distinctness of its physiological properties and the uniqueness of the primary structure of its 16S ribosomal DNA, we propose that the new isolate should be assigned to a new species, Mycobacterium hodleri. This novel species is phylogenetically closely related to Mycobacterium diernhoferi and Mycobacterium neoaurum. The type strain of M. hodleri is strain EM12 (= DSM 44183).