Nocardiopsis dassonvillei is an environmental aerobic actinomycete seldom i
solated in cutaneous and pulmonary infections. We herein report the first N
. dassonvillei blood isolate in a patient hospitalized for cholangitis. Alt
hough morphological characteristics and biochemical tests allowed a presump
tive identification of this isolate, cell wall fatty acid chromatographic a
nalysis confirmed identification at the genus level, and 16S rRNA gene sequ
encing achieved definite identification. This study illustrates the usefuln
ess of 16S rRNA gene sequencing as a routine method for the identification
of actinomycetes.