ORIGINAL PAPER Phylogenetic study of the species within the family Streptomycetaceae D. P. Labeda • M. Goodfellow • R. Brown • A. C. Ward • B. Lanoot • M. Vanncanneyt • J. Swings • S.-B. Kim • Z. Liu • J. Chun • T. Tamura • A. Oguchi • T. Kikuchi • H. Kikuchi • T. Nishii • K. Tsuji • Y. Yamaguchi • A. Tase • M. Takahashi • T. Sakane • K. I. Suzuki • K. Hatano Received: 7 September 2011 / Accepted: 7 October 2011 / Published online: 2 November 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. (outside the USA) 2011 Abstract Species of the genus Streptomyces, which constitute the vast majority of taxa within the family Streptomycetaceae, are a predominant component of the microbial population in soils throughout the world and have been the subject of extensive isolation and screening efforts over the years because they are a major source of commercially and medically impor- tant secondary metabolites. Taxonomic characteriza- tion of Streptomyces strains has been a challenge due to the large number of described species, greater than any other microbial genus, resulting from academic and industrial activities. The methods used for char- acterization have evolved through several phases over the years from those based largely on morphological observations, to subsequent classifications based on numerical taxonomic analyses of standardized sets of phenotypic characters and, most recently, to the use of molecular phylogenetic analyses of gene sequences. The present phylogenetic study examines almost all described species (615 taxa) within the family Strep- tomycetaceae based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and illustrates the species diversity within this family, which is observed to contain 130 statistically Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10482-011-9656-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. D. P. Labeda (&) National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, USDA-ARS, 1815 North University Street, Peoria, IL 61604, USA e-mail: David.Labeda@ars.usda.gov M. Goodfellow Á R. Brown Á A. C. Ward School of Biology, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK B. Lanoot Á M. Vanncanneyt Á J. Swings BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Department of Biochemistry, Physiology and Microbiology, Universiteit Gent, K. L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium S.-B. Kim Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, 220 Gung-dong, Yusong, Daejeon 305-764, Republic of Korea Z. Liu State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, People’s Republic of China J. Chun School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Shillim-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea T. Tamura Á A. Oguchi Á T. Kikuchi Á H. Kikuchi Á T. Nishii Á K. Tsuji Á Y. Yamaguchi Á A. Tase Á M. Takahashi Á T. Sakane Á K. I. Suzuki Á K. Hatano NITE Biological Resource Center (NBRC), National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, 2-5-8 Kazusakamatari, Kisarazu, Chiba 292-0818, Japan 123 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (2012) 101:73–104 DOI 10.1007/s10482-011-9656-0