CLASSIFICATION OF BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM A MEDIEVAL WALL PAINTING

Six bacterial strains were isolated from a damaged medieval wall paint ing. The isolates were characterized by a polyphasic approach, includi ng analysis of respiratory isoprenoid quinones, polar lipids, fatty ac ids, polyamines, cell wall diamino acids and sugars from whole cell hy drolysates, SDS-PAGE, physiological examinations and partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Based on the results of these investigations, three strains were allocated to the genera Bacillus, Kocuria and Agromyces. Two isolates were shown to be representatives of a new genus, distant ly related to the genera Clavibacter and Rathayibacter. The only Gram- negative isolate was shown to be related to the Agrobacterium-Rhizobiu m branch of the a-subclass of the Proteobacteria.