Nocardioides thalensis sp nov., isolated from a desert

A novel actinobacterial strain, designated NCCP-696(T), was isolated from the Thal desert in Punjab, Pakistan, and characterized by using a polyphasic taxonomy approach. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain NCCP-696(T) belongs to the genus Nocardioides and showed the highest level of sequence similarity with respect to Nocardioides panacisoli Gsoil 346(T) (98.2 %) and less than 96.4% to the strains of other species of the genus Nocardioides. Cells of strain NCCP-696(T) were Gram-positive, aerobic, non-motile rods and formed cream-coloured colonies. The strain was positive for oxidase and catalase. Growth occurred at 20-42 degrees C (optimum 30-37 degrees C) at pH 5.5-9.0 (optimum pH 7.0) and with 0-4% NaCl (optimum 0-2 %, w/v). Strain NCCP-696(T) contained Iso-C16:0, C-18:1 omega 9c, C-17:1 omega 8c and C-17 : 0 as the predominant fatty acids and was found to have LL-2,6-diaminopimelicacid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan. The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylglycerol and one unknown phospholipid. The major menaquinone was MK-8(H-4) (98.7 %) while a minor amount (1.3 %) of MK-9(H-2) was also detected. The DNA G+C content of the genomic DNA was 71.6 mol%. The DNA-DNA hybridization value of the isolate against the closely related type strain Nocardioides panacisoli Gsoil 346(T) was 56.3 +/- 1.4. On the basis of the phylogenetic inference, chemotaxonomic characteristics and phenotypic data, strain NCCP-696(T) should be classified as a novel species, for which the name Nocardioides thalensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NCCP-696(T) (= DSM 103833(T) = CCTCC AB 2016296(T)).