Nocardia puris sp. nov.

Abstract

A bacterial isolate (IMMIB R-145(T)) from a human abscess was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Chemotaxonomic investigations revealed the isolate to have cell wall chemotype IV and mycolic acids consistent with characteristics of the genus NOCARDIA: Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that the isolate constituted a distinct subline within the genus Nocardia, displaying greater than 1.7 % sequence divergence with established species. However, a DNA-DNA hybridization study demonstrated unambiguously that the isolate was genealogically distinct from closely related species, namely, Nocardia abscessus, Nocardia cyriacigeorgica and Nocardia farcinica, with which it showed high levels of 16S rDNA sequence similarity (97.8, 97.9 and 98.3 %, respectively). Based on phenotypic and phylogenetic data, it is proposed that this isolate be classified as a new species of the genus Nocardia, for which the name Nocardia puris (type strain IMMIB R-145(T)=DSM 44599(T)=NRRL B-24204(T)) is proposed.