Saccharopolyspora griseoalba sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from the Dead Sea.

A novel halotolerant actinomycete, designated strain AFM 10238(T), was isolated from a sediment sample collected from the Dead Sea of Israel. The isolate grew at 15-45 °C, pH 6-12 and with 0-15 % (w/v) NaCl. Strain AFM 10238(T) contains meso-diaminopimelic acid as cell wall diamino acid, and galactose and arabinose as the whole cell sugars. The major polar lipids are phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, and diphosphatidylglycerol. Major fatty acids are iso-C16:0, iso-C17:0, iso-C15:0, anteiso-C17:0 and C17:1 ω8c. MK-9(H4) is the predominant menaquinone and the DNA G + C content is 72.7 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain AFM10238(T) belongs to the genus Saccharopolyspora. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain AFM 10238(T) and its close neighbours, Saccharopolyspora halophila YIM 90500(T) , Saccharopolyspora spinosa DSM 44228(T), Saccharopolyspora dendranthemae KLBMP 1305(T) and Saccharopolyspora cebuensis DSM 45019(T) were 98.2, 97.2, 97.1 and 97.0 %, respectively. Sequence similarities to other type strains of this genus were below 97 %. DNA-DNA relatedness data, together with phenotypic and chemotaxonomic differences, clearly distinguished the isolate from its close neighbours. On the basis of the data from this polyphasic analysis, a novel species Saccharopolyspora griseoalba sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is AFM 10238(T) (= DSM 46,663 = CGMCC 4.7124).