and Tae-Kwang Oh1 Correspondence

A Gram-positive, non-motile, cream-coloured, curved or straight rod-shaped bacterial strain, DS-10T, was isolated from soil of Dokdo, Korea, and its taxonomic position was investigated by using a polyphasic approach. Strain DS-10T grew optimally at 25 6C and pH 7.0–8.0 in the presence of 0.5–1.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Strain DS-10T had peptidoglycan type B2c [D-Glu–D-Dab (diaminobutyric acid)] and galactose and ribose as whole-cell sugars. Strain DS-10T contained MK-11, MK-12 and MK-10 as predominant menaquinones. Major cellular fatty acids (.10 % of total) were anteiso-C15: 0, anteiso-C17: 0, iso-C16: 0 and iso-C15: 0. Major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and an unidentified glycolipid. The DNA G+C content was 71.1 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain DS-10T belonged to the genus Agromyces. Similarity values between the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain DS-10T and those of the type strains of recognized Agromyces species ranged from 95.8 to 99.3%. DNA–DNA relatedness data and differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic distinctiveness, demonstrated that strain DS-10T could be differentiated from recognized Agromyces species. On the basis of the data presented, strain DS-10T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Agromyces, for which the name Agromyces terreus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DS-10T (5KCTC 19216T 5JC