Rhodococcus luteus nom. nov. and Rhodococcus maris nom. nov.

Abstract

Two groups of bacteria isolated from natural substrates were assigned to the genus Rhodococcus Zopf 1891, emend. Goodfellow and Alderson 1977. We propose the name Rhodococcus luteus nom. nov. for the first group, which corresponds to the description of the organism previously known as “Mycobacterium luteum” Söhngen 1913. The type strain of R. luteus is IMV 385 (= AUCNM A-594). The name proposed for the second group of strains, which corresponds to the description of the organism previously known as “Flavobacterium maris” Harrison 1929, is Rhodococcus maris nom. nov. The type strain of R. maris is IMV 195 (= AUCNM A-593). The properties of the two species are described, and the characters useful for the identification of the species are given.