title: Blastococcus saxobsidens sp. nov., and emended descriptions of the genus Blastococcus Ahrens and Moll 1970 and Blastococcus aggregatus Ahrens and Moll 1970.
abstract: Ten Gram-positive, aerobic bacterial strains with coccoid cells occurring singly, in pairs, tetrads and small aggregates were isolated from the surface of marble and calcareous stones. The peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid. The major menaquinone was MK-9(H4). The cellular fatty acid pattern consisted mainly of iso-branched chain components. According to their phylogenetic position, the organisms are members of the family Geodermatophilaceae, clustering close to Blastococcus aggregatus DSM 4725T. Based on a combination of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic characteristics, strain BC444T and seven relatives group apart from strains BC412 (=DSM 44517) and BC521 (=DSM 44518), which themselves form two individual lineages. DNA-DNA reassociation studies revealed that members of the three lineages were only remotely related to B. aggregatus DSM 4725T; as the strain-rich cluster containing BC444T shared low DNA similarity values with strains BC412 and BC521, it will be described as a novel species of Blastococcus, for which the name Blastococcus saxobsidens sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BC444T (=DSM 44509T=NRRL 24246T).
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiological, Genetic and Molecular Sciences, University of Messina, Salita Sperone 31, I-98166 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Urzì
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiological, Genetic and Molecular Sciences, University of Messina, Salita Sperone 31, I-98166 Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salamone
authors.affiliation: DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schumann
authors.affiliation: GBF - Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung mbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rohde
authors.affiliation: DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Erko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stackebrandt
mesh_terms: D000192:Actinomycetales / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002119:Calcium Carbonate; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005838:Genotype; D007558:Italy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010802:Phylogeny; D009626:Terminology as Topic
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D005227:Fatty Acids; D002119:Calcium Carbonate