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Streptomyces fractus sp. nov., a novel streptomycete isolated from the gut of a South African termite

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Abstract

An actinobacterial strain, MV32T, was isolated from the paunch region of the hindgut of a South African termite, Amitermes hastatus, as part of an investigation of the actinobacterial population residing within this higher order termite species. Strain MV32T was chosen for further study from amongst the many potentially novel actinomycete isolates because of its strong antibacterial activity against Mycobacterium aurum A+. 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic analyses clearly placed strain MV32T within the genus Streptomyces, with 99.3 % sequence similarity to its closest relative, Streptomyces endophyticus YIM 65594T. Despite this high sequence similarity, DNA–DNA hybridisation analysis showed a DNA relatedness value of 62 ± 2 %, to S. endophyticus DSM 41984T (indicating that strain MV32T belongs to a different genomic species), as well as values of 14.4 ± 0.8 and 10.4 ± 2.9 %, respectively, to its next closest relatives, Streptomyces kunmingensis NRRL B-16240T and Streptomyces cinnabarinus NRRL B-12382T. Based on these results and supported by both chemotaxonomic data and a number of phenotypic differences, strain MV32T is proposed to represent a new species within the genus Streptomyces, with the name Streptomyces fractus (= DSM 42163T = NRRL B-59159T).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Miranda Waldron for help with the scanning electron microscopy and Di James and Bruna Galvão for help with the sequencing. Thanks to Dr J. P. Euzéby for help with the Latin species name and to Dr D. Labeda for providing the type strains of S. cinnabarinus and S. kunmingensis. Jeffrey Rohland gratefully acknowledges funding provided by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) in the form of a grant-holder linked bursary, as well as funding from the University Research Committee (URC), University of Cape Town. Paul Meyers was funded by the NRF (grant number: 85476), the Medical Research Council of South Africa and the URC. We would also like to thank Ms Hestelle Melville and Tygerberg Nature Reserve for providing permission and permits for collection of the termites.

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  1. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa

    Jeffrey Rohland & Paul R. Meyers

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  1. Jeffrey Rohland
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Correspondence to Paul R. Meyers.

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Rohland, J., Meyers, P.R. Streptomyces fractus sp. nov., a novel streptomycete isolated from the gut of a South African termite. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 107, 1127–1134 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-015-0404-8

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