Tsukamurella gen. nov. Harboring Corynebacterium paurometabolum and Rhodococcus aurantiacus

Abstract

Reverse transcriptase sequencing of long regions of 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acids of Corynebacterium paurometabolum and Rhodococcus aurantiacus was performed to determine the relationship of these organisms to other mycolic acid-containing actinomycetes. These two species were highly related to each other (more than 99% sequence homology in a large stretch of 1,184 nucleotides) but were distinct from the genera Corynebacterium, Mycobacterium, Nocardia, and Rhodococcus. On the basis of our findings and previous findings we propose that C. paurometabolum and R. aurantiacus be reduced to a single species and reclassified in a new genus, Tsukamurella. The type species is Tsukamurella paurometabolum comb. nov.