POLYAMINE DISTRIBUTION IN ACTINOMYCETES WITH GROUP-B PEPTIDOGLYCAN AND SPECIES OF THE GENERA BREVIBACTERIUM, CORYNEBACTERIUM, AND TSUKAMURELLA

Polyamine patterns of 75 strains of actinobacteria belonging to the ge nera Agrococcus, Agromyccs, Aureobacterium, Brevibacterium, Clavibacte r; Corynebacterium, Curtobacterium, Microbacterium, Rathayibacter, and Tsukamurella were analyzed in order to investigate the suitability of this approach for differentiation within this group. The results reve aled that the overall polyamine contents differ significantly among ge nera and that various patterns are present in actinobacteria. One char acteristic pattern found in the genera Clavibacter, Rathayibacter, and Curtobacterium included a high polyamine concentration, and the polya mines were mainly spermidine and spermine. This feature distinguished the 2,4-diaminobutgric acid containing genera Rathayibacter, Clavibact er, and Agromyces, which contained low concentrations of polyamines. S trains of the genus Brevibacterium were characterized bg the presence of high concentrations of cadavarine and usually high concentrations o f putrescine. Members of the genus Corynebacterium had relatively low polyamine contents, and usually spermidine was the major polyamine. A similar polyamine pattern was detected in the species of the genus Tsu kamurella. No homogeneous polyamine patterns were detected in represen tatives of the genera Microbacterium and Aureobacterium, which are phy logenetically intermixed (M. Takeuchi and A. Yokota, FEMS Microbiol. L ett, 124:11-16, 1994). The results of polyamine analyses are in good a greement with the genetic heterogeneity within the actinobacteria and demonstrate that polyamine patterns are suitable far use in classifica tion of actinobacterial taxa.