Agrococcus lahaulensis sp. nov., isolated from a cold desert of the Indian Himalayas

Abstract

The taxonomic position of a lemon-yellow-pigmented actinobacterium, strain K22-21T, isolated from a soil sample from Lahaul-Spiti Valley in the Indian Himalayas, was determined using a polyphasic approach. The strain had phenotypic and chemical properties that were consistent with its classification in the genusAgrococcus. Alignment of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain K22-21Twith sequences fromAgrococcus jenensisDSM 9580T,Agrococcus baldriDSM 14215TandAgrococcus citreusDSM 12453Trevealed similarities of 98.5, 96.8 and 96.6 %, respectively. However, the level of DNA–DNA relatedness between strain K22-21TandA. jenensiswas 55.1 %. The novel strain could be distinguished from type strains of the three species of the genusAgrococcususing DNA–DNA relatedness and phenotypic data. Based on these differences, strain K22-21T(=MTCC 7154T=DSM 17612T) should be classified as the type strain of a novel species ofAgrococcus, for which the nameAgrococcus lahaulensissp. nov. is proposed.