Downloaded from www.microbiologyresearch.org by IP: 54.144.54.146 On: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 12:37:08 International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2000), 50, 529–536 Printed in Great Britain Marmoricola aurantiacus gen. nov., sp. nov., a coccoid member of the family Nocardioidaceae isolated from a marble statue Clara Urzı  , 1 Paola Salamone, 1 Peter Schumann 2 and Erko Stackebrandt 2 Author for correspondence : Clara Urzı  . Tel: 39 090 6765196. Fax : 39 090 392733. e-mail : urziclunime.it 1 Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, University of Messina, Salita Sperone 31, I-98166 Villagio S. Agata Messina, Italy 2 DSMZ–German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany A Gram-positive, aerobic bacterium with coccoid cells occurring singly, in pairs and in clusters was isolated from the surface of a marble statue. The peptidoglycan contains LL-diaminopimelic acid as diagnostic diamino acid and a single glycine residue as interpeptide bridge (type A3γ). The major menaquinone is MK-8(H 4 ). The cellular fatty acid pattern consists of straight chain saturated and monounsaturated components and 10-methyl octadecanoic (tuberculostearic) acid as the only branched chain fatty acid. Phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol occur as characteristic polar lipids. The DNA GMC composition is 72 mol %. According to its phylogenetic position and 16S rDNA signature nucleotides, the organism is a member of the family Nocardioidaceae. The combination of chemotaxonomic characteristics is unique within this family and supports the description of a new genus and new species, Marmoricola aurantiacus. The type strain is strain BC 361 T ( DSM 12652 T ). Keywords : Marmoricola aurantiacus, marble, Nocardioidaceae, chemotaxonomy, phenotypic characteristics INTRODUCTION Actinobacteria with -diaminopimelic acid (- A  pm) cluster into five families belonging to four suborders on the basis of characteristic signature nucleotides of 16S rDNA : (i) Nocardioidaceae (sub- order Propionibacterineae), (ii) Propionibacteriaceae (suborder Propionibacterineae), (iii) Intrasporangia- ceae (suborder Micrococcineae), (iv) Sporychthiacea (suborder Frankineae) and (v) Streptomycetaceae (suborder Streptomycineae) (Stackebrandt et al., 1997). The genera of these families can readily be distinguished by their chemotaxonomic characteristics (Schumann et al., 1997 ; Prauser et al., 1997; Busse & Schumann, 1999). The family Nocardioidaceae (Stackebrandt et al., 1997) comprises the genera Nocardioides and Aeromicrobium which differ in their major isoprenoid quinone, cellular fatty acid profile and polar lipid pattern. The genus Nocardioides includes at present six species, ................................................................................................................................................. Abbreviations : LL-A 2 pm, LL-diaminopimelic acid ; TBSA, 10-methyl octa- decanoic acid (tuberculostearic acid). The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rDNA sequence of strain BC 361 T is Y18629. namely Nocardioides albus (Prauser, 1976), No- cardioides simplex (O’Donnell et al., 1982), No- cardioides jensenii (Suzuki & Komagata, 1983 ; Collins et al., 1989), Nocardioides luteus (Prauser, 1984), Nocardioides plantarum (Collins et al., 1994) and Nocardioides pyridinolyticus (Yoon et al., 1997). Nocardioides fastidiosa proposed by Collins & Stackebrandt (1989) has been transferred to the genus Aeromicrobium as Aeromicrobium fastidiosum by Tamura & Yokota (1994) on the basis of chemo- taxonomic and phylogenetic data. Though No- cardioides species are heterogeneous with respect to morphology, embracing strains that form mycelium which may fragment into irregular rod- and coccus- like cells as well as true rods and cocci, they are coherent in chemotaxonomic properties. The pepti- doglycan of all representatives of the genus No- cardioides contains -A  pm and is of the A3γ type (Schleifer & Kandler, 1972) with a single glycine residue as interpeptide bridge. The genus lacks mycolic acids and has a tetrahydrogenated menaquinone with eight isoprene units [MK-8(H  )] as predominant iso- prenoid quinone (O’Donnell et al., 1982). Nocardioides strains show complex cellular fatty acids including iso- and anteiso-branched, straight-chain saturated and unsaturated components and 10-methyl octadecanoic 01135  2000 IUMS 529