Agromyces larvae sp. nov., a novel actinobacterium isolated from gut of larvae of Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis

A novel actinobacterium strain, designated CFWR- 12T, was isolated from the larval gut of Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis grown at the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Wanju- gun, Republic of Korea, and its taxonomic position was evaluated. Strain CFWR-12T was aerobic, Gram- stain-positive and non-motile. Growth occurred at 10-40 & DEG;C, pH 6.0-9.0 and 0-4 % (w/v) NaCl, with optimal growth at 28-30 & DEG;C, pH 7.0 and in the absence of NaCl. Strain CFWR- 12T showed high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Agromyces intestinalis KACC 19306T (99.0 %) and Agromyces protaetiae FW100M-8T (97.9 %). The genome sequence of strain CFWR- 12T was 4.01 Mb in size with a high G+C content of 71.2 mol%. The values of average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization between strain CFWR- 12T and A. intestinalis KACC 19306T were 89.8 and 39.1 %, respectively, which were the highest among the closely related Agromyces species. The predominant cellular fatty acids (>10 %) were iso-C16:0, anteiso-C15: 0 and anteiso-C17:0, and the major respiratory quinones (>10 %) were MK -11 and MK -12. The polar lipids were composed of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified glycolipid and an unidentified lipid while the pepti-doglycan type was identified to be B1. Data based on chemotaxonomic, phylogenetic, phenotypic and genomic evidence dem-onstrated that strain CFWR- 12T represents a novel species of the genus Agromyces, for which the name Agromyces larvae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is strain CFWR- 12T (=KACC 19307T= NBRC 113047T).

Automated summary

A novel actinobacterium strain CFWR-12T was isolated from the larval gut of Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis in Korea and was identified as a new species of the genus Agromyces based on its physiological and genetic characteristics. The strain showed high sequence similarity to Agromyces intestinalis and Agromyces protaetiae, but had distinct differences in average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization. The findings suggest the presence of a new species, named Agromyces larvae.