Brachybacterium fresconis sp. nov. and Brachybacterium sacelli sp. nov., isolated from deteriorated parts of a medieval wall painting of the chapel of Castle Herberstein (Austria)

J. Heyrman, A. Balcaen, P. De Vos, P. Schumann and J. Swings Vakgroep BFM WE10V, Laboratorium voor Microbiologie, Universiteit Gent, KL Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium From two samples of microbial biofilms, damaging the mural paintings at the Saint-Catherine chapel of Castle Herberstein (Austria), four and nine coryneform bacteria were isolated, respectively. A polyphasic taxonomic study of these isolates, including morphological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic characterization, REP-PCR fingerprinting, 16S rDNA sequence analysis, DNA base ratio and DNA--DNA hybridizations, allocated them to the genus Brachybacterium. The isolates of the two samples both represent new species, for which the names Brachybacterium fresconis sp. nov. and Brachybacterium sacelli sp. nov. are proposed. The respective type strains are LMG 20336(T) (=DSM 14564(T)) and LMG 20345(T) (=DSM 14566(T)).