Nocardia testaceus sp. nov. and Nocardia senatus sp. nov., isolated from patients in Japan

Two actinomycete strains isolated from sputum between 1999 and 2001 in Japan were provisionally assigned to the genus Nocardia based on morphological criteria. These isolates were further studied in order to determine their specific taxonomic status. Detailed chemotaxonomic characterization and 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis of these isolates also confirmed that they belong to the genus Nocardia. The 16S rDNA sequence data of the two strains showed that they are most similar to that of Nocardia carnea and Nocardia flavorosea. However, DNA-DNA relatedness data showed that the two strains could be distinguished from N. carnea and N. flavorosea and therefore represented two new species within the genus Nocardia. The designation of the two isolated strains are Nocardia testaceus for IFM 0937(T) (=JCM 12235(T), DSM 44765(T)) and Nocardia senatus for IFM 10088(T) (=JCM 12236(T), DSM 44766(T)).