Frankia colletiae sp. nov., a nitrogen-fixing actinobacterium isolated from Colletia cruciata .

A nitrogen-fixing actinobacterium strain (Cc1.17) isolated from a root nodule of was subjected to polyphasic taxonomic studies. The strain was characterized by the presence of -diaminopimelic acid in its peptidoglycan, galactose, glucose, mannose, rhamnose, ribose and xylose as cell-wall sugars, phosphatidylinositol, diphosphatidylglycerol, glycophospholipids, phosphatidylglycerol, glycophospholipid and uncharacterized lipids as its polar lipids, and C, isoC, C ω9 and C 9 as major fatty acids (>10 %). Strain Cc1.17 showed 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 97.4-99.8 % to validly named species. Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene and genome sequences placed strain Cc1.17 in a new lineage within the genus . Digital DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity values between strain Cc1.17 and its closest phylogenomic neighbours were well below the thresholds recommended for prokaryotic species delineation. Therefore, strain Cc1.17 (=DSM 43829=CECT 9313) merits recognition as the type strain of a new species for which the name sp. nov. is proposed.