Amycolatopsis tucumanensis sp nov., a copper-resistant actinobacterium isolated from polluted sediments

A novel actinomycete strain, ABO(T), isolated from copper-polluted sediments showed remarkable copper resistance as well as high bioaccumulation abilities. Classical taxonomic methods, including chemotaxonomy and molecular techniques, were used to characterize the isolate. Strain ABO(T) developed a honey-yellow substrate mycelium on all ISP media tested. Abundant, white, aerial mycelium was only formed on ISP 2, 5 and 7 and MM agar. Both types of hyphae fragmented into squarish rod-shaped elements. The aerial mycelium displayed spore-like structures with smooth surfaces in long, straight to flexuous chains. The organism has a type-IV cell wall lacking mycolic acids and type-A whole-cell sugar pattern (meso-diaminopimelic acid, arabinose and galactose) in addition to a phospholipid type-II profile. 16S rRNA gene sequence studies indicated that this organism is a member of the family Pseudonocardiaceae and that it forms a monophyletic clade with Amycolatopsis eurytherma NT202(T). The DNA-DNA relatedness of strain ABO(T) to A. eurytherma DSM 44348(T) was 39.5%. It is evident from these genotypic and phenotypic data that strain ABO(T) represents a novel species in the genus Amycolatopsis, for which the name proposed is Amycolatopsis tucumanensis sp. nov. The type strain is ABO(T) (=DSM 45259(T) =LMG 24814(T)).