Kribbella aluminosa sp. nov., isolated from a medieval alum slate mine

Abstract

Three actinomycetes (strains HKI 0478T, HKI 0479 and HKI 0480) isolated from the surfaces of rocks in the Feengrotten medieval alum slate mine (Thuringia, Germany) were examined in a polyphasic taxonomic study. The following morphological and chemotaxonomic features supported their classification as members of the genus Kribbella: the presence of ll-diaminopimelic acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan; glucose together with minor amounts of mannose and ribose as the whole-cell sugars; polar lipids comprising phosphatidylcholine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and unknown phospho- and glycolipids; fatty acid profiles characterized by the predominance of anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and C16 : 0 9-methyl; and the presence of MK-9(H4) as the main menaquinone. The isolates had almost identical 16S rRNA gene sequences (99.9–100 %) and were most closely related to the type strains of Kribbella jejuensis (98.9 % sequence similarity), Kribbella swartbergensis and Kribbella solani (both 98.8 %). A wide range of genotypic and phenotypic markers as well as the low levels of DNA–DNA relatedness between strain HKI 0478T and the type strains of K. jejuensis (41.3 %), K. swartbergensis (18.6 %) and K. solani (14.2 %) distinguished the novel strains from their closest phylogenetic neighbours. On the basis of these results, strain HKI 0478T represents a novel member of the genus Kribbella, for which the name Kribbella aluminosa sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HKI 0478T (=DSM 18824T =JCM 14599T).