Rhodococcus chlorophenolicus sp. nov., a Chlorophenol-Mineralizing Actinomycete

Abstract

Strain PCP-I, which was isolated from a pentachlorophenol-mineralizing mixed culture, had the following characteristics of the actinomycetes assigned to the genus Rhodococcus: DL-diaminopimelic acid, arabinose, and galactose as cell wall constituents; major menaquinone with nine isoprenoid units and one hydrogenated double bond (MK-9H2); mycolic acids containing 33 to 43 carbon atoms; and a marked rod-to-coccus cycle during growth. None of the previously described species of Rhodococcus contains both MK-9H2 and mycolic acids of this size, and, unlike other rhodococci, strain PCP-I utilizes rhamnose, inositol, and sorbitol. Based on these properties, we believe that strain PCP-I represents a new Rhodococcus species. We propose the name Rhodococcus chlorophenolicus for this new species because of its ability to degrade several chlorophenols. The type strain is strain PCP-I (= DSM 43826).