RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Yao, Su A1 Liu, Yang A1 Zhang, Mingjuan A1 Zhang, Xin A1 Li, Hong A1 Zhao, Ting A1 Xin, Chunhui A1 Xu, Ling A1 Zhang, Bolin A1 Cheng, ChiYR 2014 T1 Thermoactinomyces daqus sp. nov., a thermophilic bacterium isolated from high-temperature Daqu JF International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, VO 64 IS Pt_1 SP 206 OP 210 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/ijs.0.055509-0 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1466-5034, AB Daqu is a fermentation starter used in the production of Chinese liquors. A thermophilic bacterium, designated strain H-18T, was isolated from a high-temperature Daqu sample collected from the manufacturing process of a sesame-flavoured liquor in Shandong province, China. It was investigated in a taxonomic study using a polyphasic approach. Strain H-18T formed white aerial mycelium and greyish-yellow substrate mycelium, bearing single endospores on aerial and substrate hyphae or on unbranched short sporophores. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C17 : 0. The predominant menaquinone was MK-7. These chemotaxonomic properties are similar to those of members of the genus Thermoactinomyces . The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 49.1 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons indicated that strain H-18T was most closely related to Thermoactinomyces vulgaris KCTC 9076T (96.42 % similarity), Thermoactinomyces intermedius KCTC 9646T (96.06 %), Laceyella putida KCTC 3666T (96.32 %) and Laceyella sacchari KCTC 9790T (95.55 %). Strain H-18T showed low DNA–DNA relatedness (40.8, 33.4, 20.0 and 14.4 %) with the above strains. Based on morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics, DNA–DNA hybridization data and physiological properties, strain H-18T represents a novel species of the genus Thermoactinomyces , for which the name Thermoactinomyces daqus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is H-18T ( = DSM 45914T = CICC 10681T)., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijs.0.055509-0