A PROPOSAL TO TRANSFER MICROBISPORA-BISPORA (LECHEVALIER 1965) TO A NEW GENUS, THERMOBISPORA GEN-NOV, AS THERMOBISPORA-BISPORA COMB-NOV

We determined almost complete 16S rRNA gene sequences of two Microbisp ora bispora (Lechevalier 1965) strains, ATCC 19993(T) (T = type strain ) and JCM 3082, The two sequences were 99% similar to each other but e xhibited only 81 to 87.8% similarity with the 16S rRNA gene sequences of seven other Microbispora strains, A phylogenetic analysis revealed that the two sequences clustered not only distantly from other Microbi spora strains, but also outside the cluster containing members of the family Streptosporangiaceae. On the basis of the results of our phylog enetic analysis and the results of a comprehensive review of the genus Microbispora by Miyadoh et al. (S. Miyadoh, S. Amano, H. Tohyama, and T. Shomura, J. Gen, Microbiol, 136:1905-1913, 1990) in which chemotax onomic and DNA-DNA hybridization analyses were performed, we propose t hat Microbispora bispora should be transferred to a new genus, Thermob ispora gen, nov., as Thermobispora bispora comb, nov.