Frondihabitans cladoniiphilus sp nov., an actinobacterium of the family Microbacteriaceae isolated from lichen, and emended description of the genus Frondihabitans

A novel actinobacterium, designated strain CafT13(T), was isolated from the thallus of the reindeer lichen Cladonia arbuscula sampled in the Austrian Alps (Koralpe). The organism was aerobic, with rod- to irregular-shaped cells (often forming dense clusters of cells when grown in liquid medium), Gram-stain-positive, oxidase-negative, catalase-positive and non-motile. It was able to grow at 1 degrees C and at low to neutral pH, but not above 30 degrees C or at high pH. The peptidoglycan type was B2 beta with ornithine as the diagnostic diamino acid. The menaquinones were MK-7 and MK-8. The polar lipid profile comprised diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, three unidentified phospholipids, three unidentified glycolipids and one unidentified aminolipid. The predominant fatty acids were C-18:1, C-14:0 2-OH, C-17:1 omega 9c, C-16:0 and anteiso-C-15 (:0). The mean DNA G +C content of strain CafT13(T) was 69.0 +/- 0.17 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain CafT13(T) belongs to the family Microbacteriaceae, within the genus Frondihabitans. The mean level of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain CafT13(T) and the type strain of Frondihabitans australicus was 35.2 +/- 5.23 %. The enzyme spectrum of strain CafT13(T) differentiated it from recognized species of the genus Frondihabitans. Based on molecular, chemotaxonomic and physiological data, strain CafT13(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Frondihabitans, for which the name Frondihabitans cladoniiphilus sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is CafT13(T) (=DSM 23273(T)=LMG 25550(T)).