NOTEIt is now well recognized that wall paintings can be severely damaged by microbial growth (Ciferri, 1999). In studies on the bacterial community associated with such deterioration, members of the actinomycetes are frequently cultivated (Sorlini et al., 1987 ;Weirich, 1989 ;Karpovich-Tate & Rebrikova, 1990 ; Altenburger et al., 1996 ;Wieser et al., 1999 ;Groth et al., 1999b). During the course of classification of heterotrophic bacteria isolated from deteriorated parts of the wall paintings in the St Catherine chapel of the Castle of Herberstein (Austria), a group of 13 strains was allocated to the genus Brachybacterium. Four of the wall-painting strains (LMG 20333 and 20335-20337) originated from a paint layer sample of black discoloration located in the chancel vault of the chapel ; nine strains (LMG 20338-20346) originated from black stripes in the upper area of the nave's north wall. The strains were isolated from trypticase soy agar (TSA ; BBL) and R2A agar (Difco) with or without added salt ; the isolation procedure used was described previously (Heyrman et al., 1999 Total genomic DNA was purified for 16S rDNA sequencing and REP-PCR using a slight modification of the method of Pitcher et al. (1989), as described by Heyndrickx et al. (1996). For determination of the GjC content and DNA-DNA hybridization, approximately 1 g biomass was harvested from agar plates and prepared further using a combination of the protocols of Marmur (1961) and Pitcher et al. (1989), as described by Logan et al. (2000). REP-PCR genomic fingerprinting was performed with the REP1 and REP2 primers (Versalovic et al., 1994) using the PCR conditions as described by Rademaker & de Bruijn (1997). For each strain, 6 µl PCR product mixed with 2 µl loading buffer (Rademaker & de Bruijn, 1997) was electrophoresed in a 1n5% (w\v) agarose gel and TAE buffer [1n21 g Tris 2-amino-2(hydroxymethyl)-1,3 propandiol l −" , 0n2 ml 0n5 M EDTA l −" , pH 8] for 15 h at a constant 55 V and 4 mC. The first and every sixth lane were loaded with 6 µl of the molecular ruler [45n5% (v\v) 100 bp ruler, 36n5% (v\v) 500 bp ruler and 18 % (v\v) loading buffer]. After staining with ethidium bromide (0n5 µg ml −" ) and visualization, the patterns were digitalized and a Pearson correlation of the resulting band patterns was performed using BioNumerics 2.0 Software (Applied Maths). 16S rDNA sequence analysis was performed as described previously by Heyrman & Swings (2001). A phylogenetic tree was constructed based on global alignment and the neighbour-joining method, including all described members of the genus Brachybacterium, and Dermabacter hominis as an outgroup. A similarity matrix was constructed using pairwise alignment of the sequences and the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) algorithm. The GjC content of DNA was determined by HPLC as described by Mesbah et al. (1989) using a Waters Symmetry Shield RP ) column thermostatically controlled at 37 mC. The solvent was 0n02 M NH % H # PO % with 1n5 % acetonitrile (pH 4n0). Non-met...