Abstract

Strain HUAS 3-15 T was isolated from the leaves of Cathaya argyrophylla collected from Chenzhou, Hunan Province, PR China. The main fatty acids (>5.0 %) of the strain were anteiso -C 15 : 0 , C 16 : 0 , C 18 : 1 ω9 c , iso- C 16 : 0 , summed feature 5 (C 18 : 2 ω6,9 c /C 18 : 0 ante), iso- C 15 : 0 and anteiso- C 17 : 0 . MK-9(H 6 ), MK-9(H 8 ) and MK-9(H 4 ) were detected as respiratory quinones. The diagnostic cell-wall diamino acid was meso -diaminopimelic acid. Galactose, glucose and ribose were also present in the cell wall. The major polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol mannosides and unidentified phospholipids. The DNA G+C content of the genome sequence, consisting of 8 860 963 bp, is 72.4 mol%. blast analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the strain belongs to the genus Kitasatospora , with 99.37, 99.03, 98.95, 98.68 and 98.67 % sequence similarity to Kitasatospora aureofaciens ATCC 10762 T , Kitasatospora viridis DSM 44826 T , Kitasatospora xanthocidica NBRC 13469 T , Kitasatospora aburaviensis NRRL B-2218 T and Kitasatospora kifunensis IFO 15206 T , respectively. Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences demonstrated that strain HUAS 3-15 T formed a well‐supported cluster with K. aureofaciens ATCC 10762 T . Further genomic characterization through average nucleotide identity (ANIb/m) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization analysis between strain HUAS 3-15 T and K. aureofaciens ATCC 10762 T showed values of 90.62/92.55 % and 45.3 %, respectively, lower than the 95–96 % ANI threshold and 70.0 % cutoff used as guideline values for species delineation in bacteria. Furthermore, the differences between the strain and its phylogenomic neighbour in terms of physiological (e.g. sole carbon source growth) and chemotaxonomic (e.g. cellular fatty composition) characteristics further supported this conclusion. Consequently, we concluded that strain HUAS 3-15 T represents a novel species of the genus Kitasatospora , for which the name Kitasatospora cathayae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HUAS 3-15 T (=MCCC 1K08542 T =JCM 36274 T ).