International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, Vol 52, 1917-1923, Copyright © 2002 by Society for General Microbiology

Rathayibacter caricis sp. nov. and Rathayibacter festucae sp. nov., isolated from the phyllosphere of Carex sp. and the leaf gall induced by the nematode Anguina graminis on Festuca rubra L., respectively

L. V. Dorofeeva, L. I. Evtushenko, V. I. Krausova, A. V. Karpov, S. A. Subbotin and J. M. Tiedje
VKM, All-Russian Collection of Microorganisms, G. K. Skryabin Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow Region 142290, Russia

Two novel species, Rathayibacter caricis sp. nov. (type strain VKM Ac-1799(T)=UCM Ac-618(T)) and Rathayibacter festucae sp. nov. (type strain VKM Ac-1390(T)=UCM Ac-619(T)), are proposed for two coryneform actinomycetes found in the phyllosphere of Carex sp. and in the leaf gall induced by the plant-parasitic nematode Anguina graminis on Festuca rubra L., respectively. The strains of the novel species are typical of the genus Rathayibacter in their chemotaxonomic characteristics and fall into the Rathayibacter 16S rDNA phylogenetic cluster. They belong to two separate genomic species and differ markedly from current validly described species of Rathayibacter at the phenotypic level. The most striking feature differentiating Rathayibacter caricis sp. nov. from other species of the genus is the presence of fucose in its cell wall and Rathayibacter festucae sp. nov. can be easily recognized among other yellow-pigmented rathayibacters because of its rose-orange-coloured colonies.