Agromyces subbeticus sp. nov., isolated from a cave in southern Spain

An actinomycete, strain Z33T, was isolated from a cyanobacterial biofilm in the Cave of Bats, near Zuheros (Cordoba, southern Spain). 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain Z33T formed a distinct phyletic line within the genus Agromyces. This isolate could be readily distinguished from representatives of all recognized Agromyces species on the basis of a broad range of phenotypic characteristics and DNA-DNA relatedness data. Genotypic and phenotypic properties indicate that strain Z33T represents a novel species, for which the name Agromyces subbeticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Z33T (=HKI 0340T =DSM 16689T =NCIMB 14025T).V. J. and L. L. are grateful to fellowships from the Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) through the European Social Funds, I3P programme and J. M. G. to a ‘Ramo´n y Cajal’ programme contract from the Ministry of Education and Science (MEC). This study was supported by project CATS (EVK4-CT2000-00028) and MEC project BTE2002- 04492-C02-01.Peer Reviewe