Agromyces italicus sp. nov., Agromyces humatus sp. nov. and Agromyces lapidis sp. nov., isolated from Roman catacombs.

A polyphasic study was carried out to clarify the taxonomic positions of three Gram-positive isolates from the Catacombs of Domitilla, Rome (Italy). 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons placed these strains within the genus Agromyces. The morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics of these isolates were consistent with the description of the genus Agromyces. The three isolates could be readily distinguished from one another and from representatives of all Agromyces species with validly published names by a broad range of phenotypic characteristics and DNA-DNA relatedness studies. Therefore, these isolates are proposed to represent three novel species of the genus Agromyces, Agromyces italicus sp. nov. (type strain CD1(T)=HKI 0325(T)=DSM 16388(T)=NCIMB 14011(T)), Agromyces humatus sp. nov. (type strain CD5(T)=HKI 0327(T)=DSM 16389(T)=NCIMB 14012(T)) and Agromyces lapidis sp. nov. (type strain CD55(T)=HKI 0324(T)=DSM 16390(T)=NCIMB 14013(T)).