Pseudonocardia endophytica sp. nov., isolated from the pharmaceutical plant Lobelia clavata.

An endophytic actinomycete strain, designated YIM 56035T, was isolated from the inner tissue of the traditional Chinese medicinal plant Lobelia clavata. The strain stained Gram-positive, was aerobic and exhibited branching, white aerial mycelium and yellowish-brown substrate mycelium. The strain formed spore chains on aerial hyphae. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 70.3 mol%. On the basis of morphological, physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics, strain YIM 56035T was assigned to the genus Pseudonocardia. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed 98.5, 97.3, 97.3 and 97.1 % similarity to the closely related type strains Pseudonocardia kongjuensis LM 157T, Pseudonocardia autotrophica IMSNU 20050T, Pseudonocardia ammonioxydans H9T and Pseudonocardia compacta IMSNU 20111T, respectively. The results of DNA–DNA hybridizations and comparison of some phenotypic characteristics revealed that the strain represents a novel species of the genus Pseudonocardia. The name Pseudonocardia endophytica sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain YIM 56035T (=DSM 44969T =CCTCC AA 206026T =KCTC 19150T).