FRIEDMANNIELLA ANTARCTICA GEN-NOV, SP-NOV, AN LL-DIAMINOPIMELIC ACID-CONTAINING ACTINOMYCETE FROM ANTARCTIC SANDSTONE

A gram-positive, aerobic, slowly growing actinomycete was isolated fro m antarctic sandstone, Packets of spherical cells of this organism for m clusters, The diagnostic diamino acid of the peptidoglycan is LL-dia minopimelic acid with glycine in position 1 of the peptide subunit, Th e major menaquinone is MK-9(H-4), and the main cellular fatty acids ar e 12- and 13-methyltetradecanoic acids, Only a few organic compounds a re metabolized, The DNA base composition is 73 mol% G + C. A 16S ribos omal DNA sequence comparison showed that this isolate is a phylogeneti c neighbor of the propionibacteria and related taxa, Its closest relat ive is Microlunatus phosphovorus, Morphological, physiological, and ge notypic characteristics support the description of a nem genus and new species, Friedmanniella antarctica gen. nov., sp, nov. The type strai n is strain AA-1042 (= DSM 11053).