Two novel actinomycetes, designated strains CFH S0322T and CFH S01580T, were isolated from soil samples collected from Xuchang city and Ji Guan cave in Henan province, China, respectively. Their taxonomic positions were investigated by a polyphasic approach. The two isolates were Gram-reaction positive, non-motile, aerobic and catalase-positive actinomycetes. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed that the two isolates are closely related to the members of the genus Amycolatopsis, sharing high similarities with Amycolatopsis magusensis KCTC 29056T (99.1 %, CFH S0322T) and Amycolatopsis nigrescens DSM 44992T (98.1 %, CFH S01580T), respectively. The major whole cell sugars of strains CFH S0322T and CFH S01580T were arabinose and galactose and the predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H4). The genomic DNA G+C contents of strains CFH S0322T and CFH S01580T were 70.6 and 68.6 mol%, respectively. Morphological, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic results suggest that strains CFH S0322T and CFH S01580T are representatives of two new species, for which the names Amycolatopsis xuchangensis sp. nov. and Amycolatopsis jiguanensis sp. nov. are proposed. The type strains are CFH S0322T (=NBRC 110769T =KCTC 39516T) and CFH S01580T (=DSM 101526T =CCTCC AA 2015032T).
Keywords: Amycolatopsis jiguanensis sp. nov.; Amycolatopsis xuchangensis sp. nov.; Polyphasic taxonomy.