Blastococcus jejuensis sp. nov., an actinomycete from beach sediment, and emended description of the genus Blastococcus Ahrens and Moll 1970

Abstract

A novel actinomycete, strain KST3-10T, was isolated from sand sediment of a beach in Jeju, Korea, and was subjected to polyphasic taxonomic characterization. The organism produced circular, smooth, translucent, apricot-coloured colonies comprising coccoid- or rod-shaped cells. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the organism belonged to the family Geodermatophilaceae and consistently formed a distinct sub-branch outside the radiation of the genus Blastococcus. The organism showed 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 98.2 % with respect to Blastococcus aggregatus DSM 4725T and 98.1 % with respect to Blastococcus saxobsidens BC444T. The type strains of the two Blastococcus species shared 98.2 % sequence similarity with respect to each other, whereas the levels of sequence similarity between the novel organism and the type strains of the less closely related neighbours, Modestobacter multiseptatus and Geodermatophilus obscurus, were in the range 96.2–96.9 %. The physiological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic data revealed that the novel organism can be readily differentiated from members of the genus Blastococcus and that it merits separate species status. On the basis of the phenotypic and genotypic evidence, strain KST3-10T represents a novel species of the genus Blastococcus, for which the name Blastococcus jejuensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KST3-10T (=NRRL B-24440T=KCCM 42251T).

Blastococcus capsensis sp. nov., isolated from an archaeological Roman pool and emended description of the genus Blastococcus, B. aggregatus, B. saxobsidens, B. jejuensis and B. endophyticus

“…Colonies were bright orange, opaque with dry surfaces and regular margins. Cell morphology was characterized by non-motile cocci in pairs and tetrads or tending to form aggregates as described for members of the genus Blastococcus (Lee, 2006). However bud formations, germ tubes or long filaments were not observed (Fig.…”

“…The genus Blastococcus (Ahrens & Moll, 1970;Urzì et al, 2004;Lee, 2006) accommodates actinobacteria, often species forming buds or rods, giving the name of the genus; Normand et al (2014). The genus Blastococcus is classified together with Geodermatophilus and Modestobacter in the family Geodermatophilaceae (Normand, 2006;Normand et al, 2014) of the order Geodermatophilales (Sen et al, 2014).…”

“…The genus Blastococcus is classified together with Geodermatophilus and Modestobacter in the family Geodermatophilaceae (Normand, 2006;Normand et al, 2014) of the order Geodermatophilales (Sen et al, 2014). There are four species of the genus Blastococcus with validly published names: Blastococcus aggregatus (Ahrens & Moll, 1970;Urzì et al, 2004), Blastococcus saxobsidens (Urzì et al, 2004), Blastococcus jejuensis (Lee, 2006) and Blastococcus endophyticus (Zhu et al, 2013). These were, respectively, isolated from sediment of Station Breitengrund at a depth of 20 m in the Western Baltic Sea, Marble Eleusys an archaeological site in Greece, sand sediment of a Korean beach in Jeju and and from healthy leaves of Camptotheca acuminate, a traditional Chinese medicinal plant.…”

Blastococcus endophyticus sp. nov., an actinobacterium isolated from Camptotheca acuminata

“…The genus Blastococcus was first proposed by Ahrens & Moll (1970) Lee, 2006), which were isolated from the Baltic Sea, limestone and a beach sand, respectively. In this study, we report a novel species isolated from Camptotheca acuminata, a traditional Chinese medicinal plant.…”

“…Other physiological characteristics are given in Table 1 and in the species description. Lee (2006). DData from Urzì et al (2004).…”