Microterricola viridarii gen. nov., sp. nov., a new member of the family Microbacteriaceae

Strain KV-677T, a Gram-positive, aerobic, motile, rod-shaped bacterium, was isolated from park soil in Tokyo, Japan, and characterized. It grew well at 15-30 degrees C on nutrient agar and colonies were pale yellow. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained diaminobutyric acid, glycine, alanine and glutamic acid and the muramic acid acyl type was acetyl. The predominant menaquinone was MK-12. Mycolic acids were not detected. The DNA G+C content was 70 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain KV-677T fell within the cluster of the family Microbacteriaceae and formed a separate lineage joining the genera Salinibacterium, Rhodoglobus, Subtercola and Agreia, showing 95.5-96.9 % sequence similarities with the type strains of the type species of the above genera. However, strain KV-677T clearly differed from these and other genera with relatively high sequence similarity in its chemotaxonomic characteristics. Therefore, it is proposed that strain KV-677T represents a novel species in a new genus, Microterricola viridarii gen. nov., sp. nov., in the family Microbacteriaceae. The type strain of Microterricola viridarii is KV-677T (=NRRL B-24538T =NBRC 102123T).