Agrococcus baldri sp. nov., isolated from the air in the 'Virgilkapelle' in Vienna.

Abstract

Five coccoid, Gram-positive strains were isolated from the air of the 'Virgilkapelle' in Vienna. A representative of these five strains, V-108T, shared 99.0 and 98.4% 16S rDNA sequence similarity, respectively, with Agrococcus jenensis DSM 9580 and Agrococcus citreus DSM 12453T. Colonies of the five strains were white when grown in the dark and turned yellow in the light. The strains displayed highly similar biochemical and physiological characteristics and showed only small differences in their protein patterns obtained after SDS-PAGE. Based on Fourier-transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectra, the five strains were grouped together and separated from the other members of the genus, A. jenensis and A. citreus. Chemotaxonomic characteristics analysed from selected members of the five isolates, including polar lipids, quinone systems, polyamine patterns, cell wall composition and fatty acid profiles, were in good agreement with those of the two species of the genus Agrococcus described to date. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was determined to be within the narrow range of 73.8-74.9 mol%. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization with A. citreus DSM 12453T and A. jenensis DSM 9580T, as well as differences in biochemical/physiological characteristics, peptidoglycan composition, fatty acids, polar lipid profiles and FT-IR spectra, demonstrated that the five isolates represent a novel species of the genus Agrococcus. The name Agrococcus baldri sp. nov. is proposed for the novel species, of which strain V-108T (= DSM 14215T = CCM 4953T) is the type strain.

Agrococcus casei sp. nov., isolated from the surfaces of smear-ripened cheeses

“…The fatty acid profiles of the strains were rich in 12-methyltetradecanoic (anteiso-C 15 : 0 ; 44.9-56.1 % of total), 14-methylhexadecanoic (anteiso-C 17 : 0 ; 26.9-30.0 % of total) and 13-methyltetradecanoic (iso-C 15 : 0 ; 8.2-11.6 % of total) acids, with smaller proportions of 14-methylpentadecanoic acid (iso-C 16 : 0 ; 2.9-8.0 % of total) and traces of hexadecanoic acid (C 16 : 0 ). These chemotaxonomic characteristics are consistent with the classification of the isolates in the genus Agrococcus (Groth et al, 1996;Wieser et al, 1999;Zlamala et al, 2002), but they also suggest that the isolates belong to a separate species.The DNA G+C content was determined for strain LMG 22410 T . DNA was extracted from biomass using the protocol described by Pitcher et al (1989) modified by lysing the washed cell pellet in 10 mM Tris/HCl, 100 mM EDTA, pH 8.0, containing RNase (200 mg ml 21 ; Sigma), mutanolysin (100 U ml 21 ; Sigma) and lysozyme (25 mg ml 21 ; SERVA) for 1 h at 37 u C, then adding proteinase K (200 mg ml 21 ; Merck) to the mixture for 15 min before addition of guanidine isothiocyanate.…”

“…The genus currently contains four species with validly described names: Agrococcus baldri Zlamala et al 2002;Agrococcus citreus Wieser et al 1999; Agrococcus jenensis Groth et al 1996; and Agrococcus lahaulensis Mayilraj et al 2006. These taxa contain organisms isolated from compost soil and sandstone, a medieval wall painting, air and soil, respectively.…”

Agrococcus versicolor sp. nov., an actinobacterium associated with the phyllosphere of potato plants

“…This composition is very similar to that of A. jenensis (Groth et al, 1996), its closest phylogenetic neighbour in the genus. The same qualitative amino acid composition was reported for the peptidoglycan of Agrococcus lahaulensis (Mayilraj et al, 2006), while Agrococcus baldri (Zlamala et al, 2002) and Agrococcus citreus (Wieser et al, 1999) lacked threonine and Agrococcus casei (Bora et al, 2007) lacked both threonine and aspartic acid.…”

“…In contrast, Agrococcus species have not been isolated from plant surfaces. Strains of this genus have been found in the air, in soil samples of different origins, on a medieval wall painting and on the surfaces of some cheeses (Groth et al, 1996;Wieser et al, 1999;Zlamala et al, 2002;Mayilraj et al, 2006;Bora et al, 2007). Furthermore, the members of the genus are able to thrive under extreme living conditions, such as in permafrost environments (Katayama et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2007), in extreme alkaline groundwater (Tiago et al, 2004) or in limiting environments (clean rooms; La Duc et al, 2007).…”

Agrococcus lahaulensis sp. nov., isolated from a cold desert of the Indian Himalayas

“…At the time of writing, the genus Agrococcus comprises three species, Agrococcus jenensis (Groth et al, 1996), Agrococcus citreus (Wieser et al, 1999) and Agrococcus baldri (Zlamala et al, 2002).…”