Ev. Ferguson et al., EVALUATION OF STREPTOMYCES SPECIES-GROUPS BY PYROLYSIS MASS-SPECTROMETRY, Zentralblatt fur Bakteriologie, 285(2), 1997, pp. 169-181
Curie-point pyrolysis mass spectrometry was used to evaluate the taxon
omic integrity of three subclusters, provisionally labelled S. albidof
lavus, S. anulatus and S. halstedii, which formed a species-group in a
n extensive numerical phenetic survey of the genus Streptomyces. Excel
lent agreement was found between the results of the triplicate analyse
s of each strain while the duplicated strains clustered adjacent to on
e another. Sequential principal component-canonical variates analysis
of the experimental data collected on the 32 representative organisms
showed that the S. albidoflavus strains formed a distinct group. This
result taken together with earlier chemical, molecular and numerical t
axonomic data indicates that the S. albidoflavus subcluster correspond
s to a distinct species. In contrast, the subclusters equated with S.
anulatus and S. halstedii were found to be heterogeneous and hence in
need of further study. However, it is evident from the present investi
gation that Curie-point pyrolysis mass spectrometry provides a rapid a
nd reproducible way of evaluating the taxonomic integrity of Steptomyc
es species-groups.