Microbacterium aerolatum sp nov., isolated from the air in the 'Virgilkapelle' in Vienna

Three rod-shaped, Gram-positive strains were isolated from the air of the chapel 'Virgilkapelle' in Vienna. A representative of these three strains, V-73(T), shared the highest 16S rDNA sequence similarities with members of genus Microbacterium, in particular Microbacterium foliorum, testaceum, Microbacterium esteraromaticum, Microbacterium and Microbacterium arabinogalactanolyticum. The strains displayed almost identical biochemical and physiological characteristics and showed no differences in their protein patterns obtained after SDS-PAGE. On the basis Fourier-transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectra and genomic fingerprints, the strains were grouped together and separated from the other relevant members of the genus Microbacterium. The chemotaxonomic characteristics analysed, including polar lipids, quinone systems, cell wall composition and fatty acid profiles, were in good agreement with the characteristics for the genus Microbacterium. The G+C content of the DNAs was be in the narrow range 69.3-69.7 mol%. The results of DNA-DNA biochemical/physiological characterization, ERIC-PCR-generated genomic fingerprints and FT-IR spectra demonstrated that the three isolates novel species of the genus Microbacterium. The name Microbacterium aerolatum sp. nov. is proposed for the novel species, of which strain V-73(T) (= DSM 14217(T) = CCM 4955(T)) is the type strain.