Short Communication PROPOSAL OF STREPTOMYCES ATROAURANTIACUS SP. NOV. AND STREPTOMYCES KIFUNENSIS SP. NOV. AND TRANSFERRING KITASATOSPORIA CYSTARGINEA KUSAKABE AND ISONO TO THE GENUS STREPTOMYCES AS STREPTOMYCES CYSTARGINEUS COMB. NOV

It has recently been proposed by Wellington et al. that the genus Kitasatosporia Omura, Takahashi, Iwai and Tanaka (9) is a synonym of the genus Streptomyces, and four validly published species, Kitasatosporia setae (9), Kitasatosporia griseola (12), Kitasatosporia phosalacinea (12) and Kitasatosporia mediocidica (3), have been transferred to the genus Streptomyces as new combinations, Streptomyces setae, Streptomyces griseolosporeus, Streptomyces phosalacineus and Streptomyces mediocidicus, respectively (14). These species form no synnema, sporangium, zoospore or sclerotium and contain menaquinones MK-9(H6) and MK-9(H8) predominantly. Their phospholipid pattern is type PIT, and the guanine-plus-cytosine (G + C) content is around 70 mol%. Moreover, they form submerged spores, and their cell walls contain A2pm isomer corresponding to the cell forms, i.e. A2pm isomer of aerial mycelia and vegetative mycelia are LLand meso-form, respectively. Other species of the genus Streptomyces however contain predominantly LL-A2pm independently of the cell form. Therefore, we showed that the genus Streptomyces could be divided into two clusters: a cluster consisting of species previously classified in the genus Kitasatosporia (tentatively called the `setae group') and the other consisting of the original Streptomyces species on the basis of the ratio of diaminopimelic acid (A2pm) isomer in the cell walls, 16S rRNA analysis and phenotypic characteristics (14).