Dietzia timorensis sp. nov., isolated from soil Hideki Yamamura, 1,2 Puspita Lisdiyanti, 3 Roni Ridwan, 3 Shanti Ratnakomala, 3 Rasti Sarawati, 4 Yulin Lestari, 5 Evi Triana, 6 Gina Kartina, 3 Yantyati Widyastuti 3 and Katsuhiko Ando 2 Correspondence Hideki Yamamura hyamamura@yamanashi.ac.jp 1 Division of Applied Biological Sciences, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Takeda-4, Kofu 400, Japan 2 NITE Biological Resource Center, Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, Japan 3 Research Center for Biotechnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jl. Raya Bogor Km. 46, Cibinong 16911, Indonesia 4 Soil Reseach Institute, Jl. Ir. H. Juanda 98, Bogor 16002, Indonesia 5 Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Bogor Agricultural University, Jalan Raya Pajajaran, Bogor 16144, Indonesia 6 Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jl. Raya Bogor Km. 46, Cibinong 16911, Indonesia An actinomycete strain, ID05-A0528 T , was isolated using the SDS-yeast extract pre-treatment method from soil under mahogany (Swietenia mahogani) trees in West Timor, Indonesia, and was examined by using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characterizations demonstrated that the novel strain belongs to the genus Dietzia. 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies showed that the strain was related to Dietzia cinnamea (97.2 %). Results of phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses determined that strain ID05-A0528 T is different from the known species of the genus Dietzia. It is proposed that the isolate should be classified as a representative of a novel species of the genus Dietzia, with the name Dietzia timorensis sp. nov. The type strain is ID05-A0528 T (5BTCC B-560 T 5NBRC 104184 T ). The genus Dietzia is a member of the suborder Corynebacterineae (Stackebrandt et al., 1997) and encom- passes eight species at the time of writing, including Dietzia papillomatosis, Dietzia schimae and Dietzia cercidiphylli (Jones et al., 2008; Li et al., 2008). Known species of the genus Dietzia were originally isolated from several sources, including clinical materials, such as an alkaline soda lake, a perianal swab, a drain pool of a fish-egg processing plant, soil, the skin of an immunocompetent patient, and plant tissue (Duckworth et al., 1998; Yumoto et al., 2002; Yassin et al., 2006; Mayilraj et al., 2006; Jones et al., 2008; Li et al., 2008). Some strains identified as representing species of the genus Dietzia show degradation of hydrocarbons, including n-alkanes (Rainey et al., 1995; Chaillan et al., 2004; Yumoto et al., 2002). Additionally, Takeishi et al. (2006) reported xylanolytic strains of the genus Dietzia isolated from the hindgut and faeces of Trypoxylus dichotomus larvae. Hence, the discovery of additional species of this genus will help in understanding their ecological roles and provide bioresources for industrial applications, including bioremediation. Strain ID05-A0528 T was isolated from a soil sample collected under mahogany trees in West Timor. The SDS-yeast extract pre-treatment method (Hayakawa & Nonomura, 1989) and humic acid-vitamin agar (Hayakawa & Nonomura, 1987) containing nalidixic acid (20 mg l –1 ) were used in the isolation. The pre-treatment method was used to enhance the spore germination of actinomycetes and to decrease the number of non- filamentous bacteria on the isolation plates. The aim of the present study was to determine the taxonomic position of isolate ID05-A0528 T using a polyphasic approach. The colonial properties of strain ID05-A0528 T were recorded from a modified Bennett’s agar plate (Jones, 1949) that had been incubated for 14 days at 28 u C. Gram- staining was examined by using Hucker’s method (Gerhardt, 1981). Motility was examined in hanging drops by light microscopy using culture grown on Bennett’s agar plates. Morphology of the cells was observed using light microscopy. Tests for aesculin and arbutin hydrolysis (Williams et al., 1983), nitrate reduction (Gordon & Mihm, The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain ID05-A0528 T is AB377289. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2010), 60, 451–454 DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.012229-0 012229 G 2010 IUMS Printed in Great Britain 451