%0 Journal Article %A Alderson, G. %A Goodfellow, M. %A Minnikin, D. E. %T Menaquinone Composition in the Classification of Streptomyces and Other Sporoactinomycetes %D 1985 %J Microbiology, %V 131 %N 7 %P 1671-1679 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-131-7-1671 %I Microbiology Society, %X Summary: The menaquinones of 59 actinomycetes representing Streptomyces, Streptoverticillium and related taxa were examined by mass spectrometry and the results compared with those of an earlier numerical phenetic survey. The Streptomyces and Streptoverticillium strains contained complex mixtures of partially saturated menaquinones with nine isoprene units with the hexa-and/or octahydrogenated components predominating. The detection of essentially similar menaquinones in representatives of the genera Chainia, Elytrosporangium, Kitasatoa and Microellobosporia is consistent with the suggestion that these taxa be reduced to synonyms of the genus Streptomyces. The recovery of markedly different menaquinones from representatives of Nocardiopsis dassonvillei and Saccharopolyspora hirsuta, together with chemical data from previous studies, clearly show that these taxa should not be associated with the Streptomyces cluster-group, contrary to the results of the numerical phenetic survey. Streptomycetes can also be distinguished from other actinomycetes including those strains of Nocardia lacking mycolic acids. The results show that menaquinone composition is of value in both the classification and the identification of streptomycetes. Indeed, the present data suggest that the minimum description of the genus Streptomyces should include information on menaquinone composition. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-131-7-1671