Kocuria flava sp. nov. and Kocuria turfanensis sp. nov., airborne actinobacteria isolated from Xinjiang, China

Two coloured bacteria were isolated from the same plate for detecting cultivable bacteria from the air of Xinjiang in China. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the isolates were members of the genus Kocuria, in which they represented two novel lineages. Although the two strains presented high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (above 97 %), their DNA G+C contents were very different (6 mol%). The G+C contents of strains HO-9041(T) and HO-9042(T) are 71 and 65 mol%, respectively. DNA relatedness analysis and other taxonomic evidence supports the placement of the two isolates in the genus Kocuria. The diagnostic diamino acid of the cell-wall peptidoglycan is l-lysine and both strains contain MK-8(H(2)) and MK-9(H(2)) as major menaquinones. In addition, they share similar fatty acid patterns containing straight-chain saturated and iso- and anteiso-branched acids, with a major component being anteiso-C(15:O). Genotypic, morphological and physiological characteristics are used to describe two novel species of Kocuria, for which the names Kocuria flava sp. nov. (type strain HO-9041(T) =CCTCC AB 206,106(T) =KCTC 19,306(T)) and Kocuria turfanensis sp. nov. (type strain HO-9,042(T) =CCTCC AB 206,107(T) =KCTC 19,307(T)) are proposed.