Comparative ribosomal protein (L11 and L30) sequence analyses of several Streptomyces spp. commonly used in genetic studies.

The taxonomic relationships among nine strains of Streptomyces, which have been commonly used for genetic studies, were examined by sequence analysis of their ribosomal L11(= rplK) protein genes. Phylogenetic relationships among these organisms derived from similarity sequence analysis of the rplK genes were in good agreement with those derived from the analysis of the deduced L11 protein amino acid sequence itself, indicating complete sequence homology among Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), 'Streptomyces lividans 66' and Streptomyces violaceoruber JCM 4423. S. coelicolor A3(2) related (in the order of closer relatedness) to Streptomyces antibioticus ATCC 14888, Streptomyces griseus IFO 13189, Streptomyces lavendulae MA 406 A-1 and Streptomyces virginiae MAFF 6014. Sequence analysis of the 26 N-terminal amino acid residues of ribosomal L30 proteins also resulted in similar phylogenetic relationships, except that S. griseus, S. lavendulae and S. virginiae were not differentiated from each other using this method. These findings concerning the phylogenetic relationship therefore confirm the previous conclusion that S. coelicolor A3(2), 'S. lividans 66' and S. violaceoruber should be recognized as a single taxon at the species level.