Nocardia arseniciresistens sp. nov., isolated from lead–zinc mine tailing

A strain with aerial hyphae presented, designated KC 131^T, was isolated from lead-zinc mine tailings, Lanping, Yunnan province, Southwest China. The strain was Gram-stain-positive, acid-alcohol-fast, aerobic and non-motile. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence and phylogeny analysis, strains <i>Nocardia ninae</i> NBRC 108245^T (98.4%), <i>Nocardia alba</i> YIM 30243^T (98.4%) and <i>Nocardia colli</i> CICC 11023^T (98.2%) were the most closely related species of strain KC 131^T, and the four strains were in one cluster. The <i>meso</i>-diaminopimelic acid, arabinose and galactose were detected in the whole-cell hydrolysates. The mycolic acids were presented, and the major fatty acids (>5%) were C_16:0 (30.0%), C_18:1 ω9c (12.5%), C_18:0 (7.5%), 10-methyl C_18:0 (27.3%) and summed feature 3 (C_16:1 ω7c and/or C_16:1 ω6c; 12.4%). The menaquinone was MK-8 (H4, ω-cyclo), and the major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. All these features were consistent with the genus <i>Nocardia</i>. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain KC 131^T and <i>N. ninae</i> NBRC 108245^T, <i>N. alba</i> DSM 44684^T and <i>N. colli</i> CICC 11023^T were 23.8%, 20.9% and 23.5%, respectively. The average nucleotide identity values between strain KC 131^T and the three strains were 80.0%, 76.5% and 80.0%, respectively. In addition, some physiological and biochemical characteristics were also different. Thus, strain KC 131^T represents a novel species of the genus <i>Nocardia</i>, for which the name <i>Nocardia arseniciresistens</i> sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KC 131^T (=CGMCC 1.19493^T=JCM 35916^T).