Gordonia polyisoprenivorans sp nov., a rubber-degrading actinomycete isolated from an automobile tyre

A rubber-degrading bacterium (strain Kd2(T)) was isolated from fouling tyre water inside a deteriorated automobile tyre. The strain was aerobic, Grampositive, produced elementary branching hyphae which fragmented into rod/coccus-like elements and showed chemotaxonomic markers which were consistent with the classification of Gordonia, i.e, meso-diaminopimelic acid, N-glycolyl muramic acid, arabinose and galactose as diagnostic sugars, a fatty acid pattern composed of unbranched saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids with a considerable amount of tuberculostearic acid, and mycolic acids comprising 58-66 carbon atoms with two principal mycolic acids C-60 and C-62 counting for over 60%. Results of 16S rDNA analyses as well as chemotaxonomic results, led to the conclusion that Gordonia sp. strain Kd2(T) (= DSM 44302(T)) represents a new species within the genus Gordonia for which the name Gordonia polyisoprenivorans is proposed.