Flexivirga alba gen. nov., sp. nov., an actinobacterial taxon in the family Dermacoccaceae

A novel actinobacterial strain ST13 T isolated from soil near wastewater treatment facilities of an electroplating plant was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Cells of this organism were non-sporulating, and were irregular coccoid to comma shaped. The peptidoglycan of strain ST13 T contained glutamic acid, serine, alanine, glycine and lysine, and represented the peptidoglycan type A4α. The whole-cell sugars contained ribose, glucose, galactose, rhamnose and mannose. The predominant menaquinone was MK-8(H 4 ). The major fatty acid was iso-C 16:0 . The polar lipid contained phosphatidylglycerol. The DNA G+C content was 67.4 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain ST13 T fell within the radius of the family Dermacoccaceae , and its closest neighbor was Luteipulveratus mongoliensis MN07-A0370 T (95.1%). However, strain ST13 T did not make a coherent clade with members of the recognized organisms. On the basis of the phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics of this actinobacterium, a novel genus and species, Flexivirga alba gen. nov., sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain of F. alba is ST13 T (=NBRC 107580 T =DSM 24460 T ).