Aouiche, A. et al., 2015. Actinokineospora mzabensis sp. nov., a novel actinomycete isolated from Saharan soil. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 107(1), pp. 291–6

A novel actinomycete strain, designated PAL84, was isolated from a Saharan soil sample collected from Béni-Isguen, Ghardaïa (South of Algeria). This strain was studied for its taxonomic position using a polyphasic approach and was identified as a member of the genus Actinokineospora. Phylogenetic analysis showed that strain PAL84 had 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with members of the genus Actinokineospora ranging from 96.2 % (Actinokineospora inagensis DSM 44258(T)) to 97.8 % (Actinokineospora baliensis NBRC 104211(T)). The strain was observed to produce pinkish-purple aerial mycelium and purplish red substrate mycelium, which fragmented readily into chains of non-motile elements. The optimum growth temperature and pH were found to be 25-30 °C and 5.0-7.0, respectively. The cell-wall hydrolysate of strain PAL84 was found to contain meso-diaminopimelic acid and the diagnostic whole-cell sugars were identified as arabinose and galactose. The predominant menaquinone was identified as MK-9 (H4). The major fatty acids were found to be iso-C16:0, iso-C15:0, iso-C16:1 H and iso-C16:0 2OH. The diagnostic phospholipid detected was phosphatidylethanolamine. The genotypic and phenotypic data show that the strain represents a novel species of the genus Actinokineospora, for which the name Actinokineospora mzabensis sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain PAL84(T) (=DSM 45961(T) = CECT 8578(T)).