Frondihabitans cladoniiphilus sp. nov., an actinobacterium of the family Microbacteriaceae isolated from lichen, and emended description of the genus Frondihabitans

Abstract

A novel actinobacterium, designated strain CafT13T, was isolated from the thallus of the reindeer lichen Cladonia arbuscula sampled in the Austrian Alps (Koralpe). The organism was aerobic, with rod- to irregular-shaped cells (often forming dense clusters of cells when grown in liquid medium), Gram-stain-positive, oxidase-negative, catalase-positive and non-motile. It was able to grow at 1 °C and at low to neutral pH, but not above 30 °C or at high pH. The peptidoglycan type was B2β with ornithine as the diagnostic diamino acid. The menaquinones were MK-7 and MK-8. The polar lipid profile comprised diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, three unidentified phospholipids, three unidentified glycolipids and one unidentified aminolipid. The predominant fatty acids were C18 : 1, C14 : 0 2-OH, C17 : 1ω9c, C16 : 0 and anteiso-C15 : 0. The mean DNA G+C content of strain CafT13T was 69.0±0.17 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain CafT13T belongs to the family Microbacteriaceae, within the genus Frondihabitans. The mean level of DNA–DNA relatedness between strain CafT13T and the type strain of Frondihabitans australicus was 35.2±5.23 %. The enzyme spectrum of strain CafT13T differentiated it from recognized species of the genus Frondihabitans. Based on molecular, chemotaxonomic and physiological data, strain CafT13T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Frondihabitans, for which the name Frondihabitans cladoniiphilus sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is CafT13T ( = DSM 23273T = LMG 25550T).