NOCARDIOPSIS HALOPHILA SP-NOV, A NEW HALOPHILIC ACTINOMYCETE ISOLATED FROM SOIL

A new species, Nocardiopsis halophila, is proposed. This species is represented by a single isolate obtained from a saline soil sample in Iraq. This organism grows in both synthetic and organic media containing concentrations of NaCI up to 20% (wt/vol) and is resistant to lysozyme. Whole-cell hydrolysates contain meso-diaminopimelic acid (cell wall type III) and no diagnostic sugars (sugar pattern C). The phospholipid type is type PILI. The predominant menaquinone is MK-1O(H-6,H-8), and mycolic acids are absent. This organism forms abundant white aerial mycelia and long irregularly branched spore chains that have a zigzag appearance and fragment into spores of various lengths. The substrate mycelia are extensively branched and are rarely fragmented. These properties suggest that this bacterium should be placed in the genus Nocardiopsis. However, this organism differs from all previously described species of the genus Nocardiopsis in its ability to grow in the presence of 20% (wt/vol) NaCI and also in many other physiological and biochemical characteristics. Thus, we propose that this organism is a new species, Nocardiopsis halophila. Type strain IQ-H3 has been deposited in the Culture Collection of the Institute of Microbiology, Academia Sinica, Beijing, People's Republic of China, as strain A.S.4.1195.