An actinomycete strain, designated I12A-02593(T), was isolated from a desert soil crust sample collected in the Shapotou region of Tengger Desert, north-west China. The isolate grew well on International Streptomyces Project (ISP) media 2, 3, 5 and 7, YS and Bennett's agar; it produced spherical bodies and formed clumps on the aerial mycelia on ISP 5 agar plates. Chemotaxonomically, the strain contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid, arabinose and galactose as the diagnostic sugars in whole-cell hydrolysates, MK-9(H4) as the sole isoprenoid quinone, and iso-C16 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 2-OH and iso-C16 : 1 H as the major cellular fatty acids, without mycolic acids. The profile of the phospholipids mainly comprised diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and hydroxyphosphatidylethanolamine. The genomic DNA G+C content was 70.1 mol%. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain I12A-02593(T) exhibited 96.4-97.4 % similarities with members of the genus Actinophytocola. In the phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, the isolate formed a robust cluster with Actinophytocola oryzae NBRC 105245(T), Aactinophytocola timorensis NBRC 105524(T), Actinophytocola corallina NBRC 105525(T), Actinophytocola burenkhanensis NBRC 105883(T)and Actinophytocola xinjiangensis NBRC 106673(T). DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain I12A-02593(T) and the five species of the genus Actinophytocola were all less than 70 %. On the basis of the polyphasic taxonomy evidence, a novel species of the genus Actinophytocola is proposed, with the name Actinophytocola gilvus sp. nov. The type strain is I12A-02593(T) ( = CPCC 203543(T) = DSM 45828(T) = NBRC 109453(T) = KCTC 29165(T)). An emended description of the genus Actinophytocola is also provided.
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