Implicit Racial and Gender Bias About Handguns: A New Implicit Association Test.

This study measured implicit and explicit racial bias about women and handguns and addressed important perceptions and stereotypes about gun competence and victimization that vary based on race and gender. We administered a national survey to 1,000 US adults using a new Race-Women-Handguns Implicit Association Test (IAT). Survey weighting was used to generate nationally representative estimates on the prevalence of implicit racial bias about women with handguns. The majority of participants (62.5%) associated Black women with handguns and White women with smartphones (weighted-mean IAT = 0.252; 95% CI [0.227, 0.276]) reflecting an anti-Black bias among US adults that is stereotype consistent associating Black women with handguns and White women with smartphones. The proportion that indicated Black and White women were competent with handguns was low (21.6% and 22.4%, respectively), and the proportion of US adults who indicated Black women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence (range: 19.4%-22.9%) and sexual harassment/assault (range: 11.4%-20.4%) was low compared to the prevalence of both forms of violence US among Black women that may impact the decision to possess a handgun. These findings suggest there is an anti-Black implicit bias about women with handguns (associating Black women with handguns) among US adults and support the need for further research measuring racism in systems and structures that intersect with gun possession.

The antimicrobial effect of calcium-doped titanium is activated by fibrinogen adsorption.

Directly targeting bacterial cells is the present paradigm for designing antimicrobial biomaterial surfaces and minimizing device-associated infections (DAIs); however, such pathways may create problems in tissue integration because materials that are toxic to bacteria can also be harmful to mammalian cells. Herein, we report an unexpected antimicrobial effect of calcium-doped titanium, which itself has no apparent killing effect on the growth of pathogenic bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pa, ATCC 27853) while presenting strong inhibition efficiency on bacterial colonization after fibrinogen adsorption onto the material. Fine X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analyses reported calcium-dependent shifts of the binding energy in nitrogen and oxygen involved groups and wavenumbers in the amide I and II bands of the adsorbent fibrinogen, demonstrating that locally delivered calcium can react with the carboxy-terminal regions of the Aα chains and influence their interaction with the N-termini of the Bß chains in fibrinogen. These reactions facilitate the exposure of the antimicrobial motifs of the protein, indicating the reason for the surprising antimicrobial efficacy of calcium-doped titanium. Since protein adsorption is an immediate intrinsic step during the implantation surgery, this finding may shift the present paradigm on the design of implantable antibacterial biomaterial surfaces.

The Stigma of Criminal Legal Involvement and Health: a Conceptual Framework.

The USA incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world. Exposure to the criminal legal system has been associated with a myriad of health outcomes but less is understood about what drives these associations. We argue that stigma due to criminal legal involvement, what we call criminal legal stigma, likely has a larger role in the association between incarceration and negative health outcomes than has been previously appreciated. There is limited research on the impact on health of criminal legal stigma despite abundant research on its negative social consequences. In this paper, we describe a conceptual framework of the health effects of criminal legal stigma drawing on previous research of criminal legal stigma and advances in other areas of stigma research. We outline key concepts related to stigma mechanisms, how they function at structural and individual levels, and how they might cause health outcomes. Finally, we identify potential areas for future research and opportunities for clinical interventions to remediate negative effects of stigma.

What Is Wrong with Monetary Sanctions? Directions for Policy, Practice, and Research.

Monetary sanctions are an integral and increasingly debated feature of the American criminal legal system. Emerging research, including that featured in this volume, offers important insight into the law governing monetary sanctions, how they are levied, and how their imposition affects inequality. Monetary sanctions are assessed for a wide range of contacts with the criminal legal system ranging from felony convictions to alleged traffic violations with important variability in law and practice across states. These differences allow for the identification of features of law, policy, and practice that differentially shape access to justice and equality before the law. Common practices undermine individuals' rights and fuel inequality in the effects of unpaid monetary sanctions. These observations lead us to offer a number of specific recommendations to improve the administration of justice, mitigate some of the most harmful effects of monetary sanctions, and advance future research.

Critical parameters in cultivation of experimental biofilms using the example of Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Formation and treatment of biofilms present a great challenge for health care and industry. About 80% of human infections are associated with biofilms including biomaterial centered infections, like infections of prosthetic heart valves, central venous catheters, or urinary catheters. Additionally, biofilms can cause food and drinking water contamination. Biofilm research focusses on application of experimental biofilm models to study initial adherence processes, to optimize physico-chemical properties of medical materials for reducing interactions between materials and bacteria, and to investigate biofilm treatment under controlled conditions. Exploring new antimicrobial strategies plays a key role in a variety of scientific disciplines, like medical material research, anti-infectious research, plant engineering, or wastewater treatment. Although a variety of biofilm models exist, there is a lack of standardization for experimental protocols, and designing experimental setups remains a challenge. In this study, a number of experimental parameters critical for material research have been tested that influence formation and stability of an experimental biofilm using the non-pathogenic model strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens. These parameters include experimental time frame, nutrient supply, inoculum concentration, static and dynamic cultivation conditions, material properties, and sample treatment during staining for visualization of the biofilm. It was shown, that all tested parameters critically influence the experimental biofilm formation process. The results obtained in this study shall support material researchers in designing experimental biofilm setups.

Highly parallelized droplet cultivation and prioritization of antibiotic producers from natural microbial communities.

Antibiotics from few culturable microorganisms have saved millions of lives since the 20th century. But with resistance formation, these compounds become increasingly ineffective, while the majority of microbial and with that chemical compound diversity remains inaccessible for cultivation and exploration. Culturing recalcitrant bacteria is a stochastic process. But conventional methods are limited to low throughput. By increasing (i) throughput and (ii) sensitivity by miniaturization, we innovate microbiological cultivation to comply with biological stochasticity. Here, we introduce a droplet-based microscale cultivation system, which is directly coupled to a high-throughput screening for antimicrobial activity prior to strain isolation. We demonstrate that highly parallelized in-droplet cultivation starting from single cells results in the cultivation of yet uncultured species and a significantly higher bacterial diversity than standard agar plate cultivation. Strains able to inhibit intact reporter strains were isolated from the system. A variety of antimicrobial compounds were detected for a selected potent antibiotic producer.

Antibiotics are chemicals derived from microorganisms that can kill the bacteria that harm human health. In the 20^th and 21^st centuries antibiotics saved millions of lives, but new strains of dangerous bacteria that cannot be killed by antibiotics, known as antibiotic resistant strains, are becoming more frequent. Most antibiotics are produced by only a small group of microorganisms, but many more microorganisms exist in nature. So it is possible that microorganisms outside this small group can produce different antibiotics that are effective against antibiotic resistant strains. Unfortunately, finding the microorganisms that produce these alternative antibiotics is challenging because researchers do not know which bacteria are producing these molecules and how to grow these microorganisms in the laboratory. To solve this problem, Mahler et al. developed a new method for growing a new subset of microorganisms in the laboratory. This would allow researchers to study the new microorganisms under controlled conditions, and determine whether any of the substances they produce have antibiotic properties. Mahler et al. generated tiny droplets that could only contain a single cell of a microorganism, so each microbe could grow alone in its own protected environment. Using this approach, it was possible to grow completely different types of microorganisms than with traditional techniques, and keep them isolated from each other. This allowed each different species of microbe to be screened for antimicrobial activity, allowing the identification of chemicals that could potentially be developed into new antibiotics. This new method is automated and miniaturized, paving the way for growing many more cells in few hours, with very low material and space requirements. These results showcase a way of growing new types of microorganisms in the laboratory, making it easier and faster to study them and determine what chemicals they produce. Understanding a greater variety of microorganisms in detail can help identify new chemicals for industrial applications, including new ways of combating infections.

Culicoidibacter larvae gen. nov., sp. nov., from the gastrointestinal tract of the biting midge (Culicoides sonorensis) larva, belongs to a novel lineage Culicoidibacteraceae fam. nov., Culicoidibacterales ord. nov. and Culicoidibacteria classis nov. of the phylum Firmicutes.

Strain CS-1T, a novel facultative anaerobic bacterium, was isolated from the larval gastrointestinal tract of the biting midge, Culicoides sonorensis, a vector of the epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus and the bluetongue virus. Cells were Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming, pleomorphic rods. Optimal growth occurred at pH 7.5 and 37 °C. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 38.3 mol%, estimated by using HPLC. The dominant cellular fatty acids were C14 : 0 (45.9 %) and C16 : 0 (26.6 %). The polar lipid profile comprised glycolipids, diphosphatidylglycerol, phospholipids and phosphoglycolipids. Respiratory quinones were not detected. Strain CS-1T had very low 16S rRNA gene similarity to members of the phylum Firmicutes: Macrococcus canis KM45013T (85 % similarity) and Turicibacter sanguinis MOL361T (88 % similarity). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA, rpoB, gyrB genes, and conserved protein sequences of the whole genome revealed that strain CS-1T was related to members of the classes Bacilli and Erysipelotrichia within the phylum Firmicutes. Furthermore, average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization analyses of the whole genome revealed very low sequence similarity to species of Bacilli and Erysipelotrichaceae (Macrococcus canis KM45013T and Turicibacter sp. H121). These results indicate that strain CS-1T belongs to the phylum Firmicutes and represents a new species of a novel genus, family, order and class. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, phylogenetic and genomic characteristics, we propose the novel taxon Culicoidibacter larvae gen. nov., sp. nov. with the type strain CS-1T (=CCUG 71726T=DSM 106607T) within the hereby new proposed novel family Culicoidibacteraceae fam. nov., new order Culicoidibacaterales ord. nov. and new class Culicoidibacteria classis nov. in the phylum Firmicutes.

Streptomyces smaragdinus sp. nov., isolated from the gut of the fungus growing-termite Macrotermes natalensis.

The taxonomic position of a novel aerobic, Gram-positive actinobacteria, designated strain RB5T, was determined using a polyphasic approach. The strain, isolated from the gut of the fungus-farming termite Macrotermes natalensis, showed morphological, physiological and chemotaxonomic properties typical of the genus Streptomyces. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the closest phylogenetic neighbour of RB5T was Streptomyces polyrhachis DSM 42102T (98.87 %). DNA-DNA hybridization experiments between strain RB5T and S. polyrhachis DSM 42102T resulted in a value of 27.4 % (26.8 %). The cell wall of strain RB5T contained ll-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic amino acid. Mycolic acids and diagnostic sugars in whole-cell hydrolysates were not detected. The strain produced the following major phospholipids: diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylinositol-mannoside and phosphatidylserine. The menaquinone profile showed hexa- and octahydrogenated menaquinones containing nine isoprene units [MK-9(H6) and MK-9(H8)]. The strain exhibited a fatty acid profile containing the following major fatty acids: 12-methyltridecanoic acid (iso-C14 : 0) 12-methyltetradecanoic acid (anteiso-C15 : 0), 13-methyltetradecanoic acid (iso-C15 : 0) and 14-methylpentadecanoic acid (iso-C16 : 0). Here, we propose a novel species of the genus Streptomyces - Streptomyces smaragdinus with the type strain RB5T (=VKM Ac-2839T=NRRL B65539T).

Actinomadura rubteroloni sp. nov. and Actinomadura macrotermitis sp. nov., isolated from the gut of the fungus growing-termite Macrotermes natalensis.

The taxonomic positions of two novel aerobic, Gram-positive actinobacteria, designated strains RB29T and RB68T, were determined using a polyphasic approach. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the closest phylogenetic neighbours of RB29T were identified as Actinomadura rayongensis DSM 102126T (99.2 % similarity) and Actinomadura atramentaria DSM 43919T (98.7 %), and for strain RB68T was Actinomadura hibisca DSM 44148T (98.3 %). Digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) between RB29T and its closest phylogenetic neighbours, A. rayongensis DSM 102126T and A. atramentaria DSM 43919T, resulted in similarity values of 53.2 % (50.6-55.9 %) and 26.4 % (24.1-28.9 %), respectively. Additionally, the average nucleotide identity (ANI) was 93.2 % (94.0 %) for A. rayongensis DSM 102126T and 82.3 % (78.9 %) for A. atramentaria DSM 43919T. dDDH analysis between strain RB68T and A. hibisca DSM 44148T gave a similarity value of 24.5 % (22.2-27.0 %). Both strains, RB29T and RB68T, revealed morphological characteristics and chemotaxonomic features typical for the genus Actinomadura, such as the presence of meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall, galactose and glucose as major sugar components within whole-cell hydrolysates and the absence of mycolic acids. The major phospholipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositol mannoside. Predominant menaquinones were MK-9(H6) and MK-9(H8) for RB29T and MK-9(H4) and MK-9(H6) for RB68T. The main fatty acids were identified as 10-methyloctadecanoic acid (10-methyl C18:0), 14-methylpentadecanoic acid (iso-C16:0), hexadecanoic acid (C16:0) and cis-9-octadecanoic acid (C18 : 1 ω9c). Here, we propose two novel species of the genus Actinomadura: Actinomadura rubteroloni sp. nov. with the type strain RB29T (=CCUG 72668T=NRRL B-65537T) and Actinomadura macrotermitis sp. nov. with the type strain RB68T (=CCUG 72669T=NRRL B-65538T).

Nocardia macrotermitis sp. nov. and Nocardia aurantia sp. nov., isolated from the gut of the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes natalensis.

The taxonomic positions of two novel aerobic, Gram-stain-positive Actinobacteria, designated RB20T and RB56T, were determined using a polyphasic approach. Both were isolated from the fungus-farming termite Macrotermes natalensis. Results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that both strains are members of the genus Nocardia with the closest phylogenetic neighbours Nocardia miyunensis JCM12860T (98.9 %) and Nocardia nova DSM44481T (98.5 %) for RB20T and Nocardia takedensis DSM 44801T (98.3 %), Nocardia pseudobrasiliensis DSM 44290T (98.3 %) and Nocardia rayongensis JCM 19832T (98.2 %) for RB56T. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization (DDH) between RB20T and N. miyunensis JCM12860T and N. nova DSM 44481T resulted in similarity values of 33.9 and 22.0 %, respectively. DDH between RB56T and N. takedensis DSM44801T and N. pseudobrasiliensis DSM44290T showed similarity values of 20.7 and 22.3 %, respectively. In addition, wet-lab DDH between RB56T and N. rayongensis JCM19832T resulted in 10.2 % (14.5 %) similarity. Both strains showed morphological and chemotaxonomic features typical for the genus Nocardia, such as the presence of meso-diaminopimelic acid (A2pm) within the cell wall, arabinose and galactose as major sugar components within whole cell-wall hydrolysates, the presence of mycolic acids and major phospholipids (diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol), and the predominant menaquinone MK-8 (H4, ω-cyclo). The main fatty acids for both strains were hexadecanoic acid (C16 : 0), 10-methyloctadecanoic acid (10-methyl C18 : 0) and cis-9-octadecenoic acid (C18 : 1 ω9c). We propose two novel species within the genus Nocardia: Nocardia macrotermitis sp. nov. with the type strain RB20T (=VKM Ac-2841T=NRRL B65541T) and Nocardia aurantia sp. nov. with the type strain RB56T (=VKM Ac-2842T=NRRL B65542T).

Does criminal justice stigma affect health and health care utilization? A systematic review of public health and medical literature.

PURPOSE: This paper aims to determine whether criminal justice (CJ) stigma affects health outcomes and health care utilization. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The authors reviewed medical and public health literature through May 2020. Structured terms were used to search four databases identifying articles that related to CJ stigma. Included articles were in English, examined CJ stigma and had people with CJ involvement as subjects. The studies without health outcomes were excluded. Quantitative and qualitative studies were reviewed and assessed for bias. Results were synthesized into a systematic review. FINDINGS: The search yielded 25 studies relating to CJ stigma and health. Three stigma domains were described in the literature: perceived or enacted, internalized and anticipated stigma. Tenuous evidence linked CJ stigma to health directly (psychological symptoms) and indirectly (social isolation, health care utilization, high-risk behaviors and housing or employment). Multiple stigmatized identities may interact to affect health and health care utilization. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Few studies examined CJ stigma and health. Articles used various measures of CJ stigma, but psychometric properties for instruments were not presented. Prospective studies with standard validated measures are needed. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Understanding whether and how CJ stigma affects health and health care utilization will be critical for developing health-promoting interventions for people with CJ involvement. Practical interventions could target stigma-related psychological distress or reduce health care providers' stigmatizing behaviors. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This was the first systematic review of CJ stigma and health. By providing a summary of the current evidence and identifying consistent findings and gaps in the literature, this review provides direction for future research and highlights implications for policy and practice.

Publisher Correction: Detection of antibiotics synthetized in microfluidic picolitre-droplets by various actinobacteria.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Detection of antibiotics synthetized in microfluidic picolitre-droplets by various actinobacteria.

The natural bacterial diversity is regarded as a treasure trove for natural products. However, accessing complex cell mixtures derived from environmental samples in standardized high-throughput screenings is challenging. Here, we present a droplet-based microfluidic platform for ultrahigh-throughput screenings able to directly harness the diversity of entire microbial communities. This platform combines extensive cultivation protocols in aqueous droplets starting from single cells or spores with modular detection methods for produced antimicrobial compounds. After long-term incubation for bacterial cell propagation and metabolite production, we implemented a setup for mass spectrometric analysis relying on direct electrospray ionization and injection of single droplets. Even in the presence of dense biomass we show robust detection of streptomycin on the single droplet level. Furthermore, we developed an ultrahigh-throughput screening based on a functional whole-cell assay by picoinjecting reporter cells into droplets. Depending on the survival of reporter cells, droplets were selected for the isolation of producing bacteria, which we demonstrated for a microbial soil community. The established ultrahigh-throughput screening for producers of antibiotics in miniaturized bioreactors in which diverse cell mixtures can be screened on the single cell level is a promising approach to find novel antimicrobial scaffolds.

A polyphasic approach leads to seven new species of the cellulose-decomposing genus Sorangium, Sorangium ambruticinum sp. nov., Sorangium arenae sp. nov., Sorangium bulgaricum sp. nov., Sorangium dawidii sp. nov., Sorangium kenyense sp. nov., Sorangium orientale sp. nov. and Sorangium reichenbachii sp. nov.

Seventy-three strains of Sorangium have been isolated from soil samples collected from all over the world. The strains were characterized using a polyphasic approach and phenotypic, genotypic and chemotype analyses clarified their taxonomic relationships. 16S rRNA, xynB1, groEL1, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ioniziation time-of-flight mass spectrometry and API-ZYM analyses were conducted. In addition, from selected representative strains, fatty acids, quinones and phospholipids were analysed. In silico DNA-DNA hybridization and DNA-DNA hybridization against the current type species of Sorangiumcellulosum strain Soce 1871T (DSM 14627T) completed the analyses. Finally, our study revealed seven new species of Sorangium: Sorangium ambruticinum (Soce 176T; DSM 53252T, NCCB 100639T, sequence accession number ERS2488998), Sorangium arenae (Soce 1078T; DSM 105768T, NCCB 100643T, ERS2489002), Sorangium bulgaricum (Soce 321T; DSM 53339T, NCCB 100640T, ERS2488999), Sorangium dawidii (Soce 362T; DSM 105767T, NCCB 100641T, ERS2489000), Sorangium kenyense (Soce 375T; DSM 105741T, NCCB 100642T, ERS2489001), Sorangium orientale (Soce GT47T; DSM 105742T, NCCB 100638T, ERS2501484) and Sorangium reichenbachii (Soce 1828T; DSM 105769T, NCCB 100644T, ERS2489003).

Natural Products from Actinobacteria Associated with Fungus-Growing Termites.

The chemical analysis of insect-associated Actinobacteria has attracted the interest of natural product chemists in the past years as bacterial-produced metabolites are sought to be crucial for sustaining and protecting the insect host. The objective of our study was to evaluate the phylogeny and bioprospecting of Actinobacteria associated with fungus-growing termites. We characterized 97 Actinobacteria from the gut, exoskeleton, and fungus garden (comb) of the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes natalensis and used two different bioassays to assess their general antimicrobial activity. We selected two strains for chemical analysis and investigated the culture broth of the axenic strains and fungus-actinobacterium co-cultures. From these studies, we identified the previously-reported PKS-derived barceloneic acid A and the PKS-derived rubterolones. Analysis of culture broth yielded a new dichlorinated diketopiperazine derivative and two new tetracyclic lanthipeptides, named rubrominins A and B. The discussed natural products highlight that insect-associated Actinobacteria are highly prolific natural product producers yielding important chemical scaffolds urgently needed for future drug development programs.

Monetary Sanctions: Legal Financial Obligations in US Systems of Justice.

This review assesses the current state of knowledge about monetary sanctions, e.g., fines, fees, surcharges, restitution, and any other financial liability related to contact with systems of justice, which are used more widely than prison, jail, probation, or parole in the United States. The review describes the most important consequences of the punishment of monetary sanctions in the United States, which include a significant capacity for exacerbating economic inequality by race, prolonged contact and involvement with the criminal justice system, driver's license suspension, voting restrictions, damaged credit, and incarceration. Given the lack of consistent laws and policies that govern monetary sanctions, jurisdictions vary greatly in their imposition, enforcement, and collection practices of fines, fees, court costs, and restitution. A review of federally collected data on monetary sanctions reveals that a lack of consistent and exhaustive measures of monetary sanctions presents a unique problem for tracking both the prevalence and amount of legal financial obligations (LFOs) over time. We conclude with promising directions for future research and policy on monetary sanctions.

Taxonomic analyses of members of the Streptomyces cinnabarinus cluster, description of Streptomyces cinnabarigriseus sp. nov. and Streptomyces davaonensis sp. nov.

Roseoflavin is the only known riboflavin (vitamin B2) analog with antibiotic properties. It is actively taken up by many micro-organisms and targets flavinmononucleotide riboswitches and flavoproteins. It is described as the product of the tentatively named 'Streptomyces davawensis' JCM 4913. Taxonomic analysis of this strain with a polyphasic approach showed that it is very closely related to Streptomyces cinnabarinus (DSM 40467). The two Streptomyces isolates were obtained from different geographical locations (the Philippines and the Kamchatka Peninsula, respectively), their genomes have been sequenced and the question was whether or not the two isolates were representatives of the same species. As we also worked with another isolate of Streptomyces cinnabarinus JS 360, the producer of the cinnabaramides, we wanted to clarify the taxonomic position of the three isolates by using a polyphasic approach. After analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, we found in total 23 species of the genus Streptomyces that showed a similarity higher than 98.5 % to the three strains. We showed that 'S. davawensis' JCM 4913 and S. cinnabarinus DSM 40467 were very closely related but belong to two different species. Hence, we validate 'S. davawensis' as Streptomyces davaonensis sp. nov. with the type strain JCM 4913T (=DSM 101723T). In addition, the cinnabaramide producer can be clearly differentiated from S. davaonensis and this isolate is described as Streptomyces cinnabarigriseus sp. nov. with strain JS360T (=NCCB 100590T=DSM 101724T) as the type strain.

Herpetosiphon gulosus sp. nov., a filamentous predatory bacterium isolated from sandy soil and Herpetosiphon giganteus sp. nov., nom. rev.

Three filamentous gliding bacteria from the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Hp g11, Hp g471 and Hp g472, were subjected to a phylogenetic analysis. These organisms had previously been classified as members of the genus Herpetosiphon based on their growth physiology and morphology. However, a taxonomic assignment at the species level had not been carried out. Analysis of 16S rRNA sequences now confirmed the close relationship of strain Hp g472 to Herpetosiphon aurantiacus DSM 785T (98.6 % nucleotide identity) and Herpetosiphon geysericola DSM 7119T (97.7 %). The results of DNA-DNA hybridization experiments further implied that strain Hp g472 should be classified as a distinct species. The DNA G+C content of strain Hp g472 was 49.9 mol%. The major quinone was MK-10 and the predominant cellular fatty acids were C18 : 1, C16 : 1 and C16 : 0. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data it was concluded that strain Hp g472 represents a novel species of the genus Herpetosiphon, for which the name Herpetosiphon gulosus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Hp g472T (=DSM 52871T=NBRC 112829T). In contrast to Hp g472T, the strains Hp g11 and Hp g471 exhibited closest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>99 %) with 'Herpetosiphon giganteus' Hp a2. The distinctive genotypic and phenotypic properties of the latter supported the revival of the name as Herpetosiphon giganteus (ex Reichenbach & Golecki, 1975) sp. nov., nom. rev. We propose the previously deposited reference strain DSM 589T=NBRC 112828T as the type strain.

'Streptomyces caelicus', an antibiotic-producing species of the genus Streptomyces, and Streptomyces canchipurensis Li et al. 2015 are later heterotypic synonyms of Streptomyces muensis Ningthoujam et al. 2014.

'Streptomyces caelicus' DSM 40835 was first reported as the producer of the antibiotic griselimycin by some coworkers of Rhone Poulenc in 1971. The project on isolation of the antibiotic compound was stopped because of the bad solubility and selectivity of the compound towards Mycobacteria. At Sanofi-Aventis, Germany, the project was re-evaluated in 2007 and the gene cluster of griselimycin could be identified, characterized and was patented in 2013. At this time, 'S. caelicus' was an invalid name. During the strain characterization work, it was found that 'S. caelicus' belongs to the group of species of the genus Streptomyces which show an unusual heterogeneity of the 16S rRNA gene sequences. However, high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Streptomyces muensis JCM 17576T and Streptomyces canchipurensis JCM 17575T were obvious. Here, we present a comparative description of 'Streptomyces caelicus' DS 9461 (=DSM 40835=NCCB 100592) with S. muensis and S. canchipurensis by use of a polyphasic taxonomy approach and additional comparison of some housekeeping genes by multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA). An emended description of Streptomyces muensis is provided as a result of this work.

Isoptericola cucumis sp. nov., isolated from the root tissue of cucumber (Cucumis sativus).

A Gram-stain-positive, aerobic organism, showing an irregular cell morphology, was isolated from the root tissue of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and investigated in detail for its taxonomic position. On the basis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain AP-38T was shown to be most closely related to Isoptericola variabilis (99.1 %) and Isoptericola nanjingensis (98.9 %). The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to all other species of the genus Isoptericola was ≤98.5 %. DNA-DNA relatedness to Isoptericola variablis DSM 10177T and Isoptericola nanjingensis DSM 24300T was 31(reciprocal 41 %) and 34 (reciprocal 34 %), respectively. The diagnostic diamino acid of the peptidoglycan was l-lysine. The quinone system contained predominantly menaquinones MK-9(H4) and MK-9(H2). In the polar lipid profile, major compounds were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and two phosphatidylinositol mannosides. The polyamine pattern contained the major components spermidine and spermine and significant amounts of tyramine. In the fatty acid profile, anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0 were present in major amounts. These data support the allocation of the strain to the genus Isoptericola. The results of physiological and biochemical characterization additionally provide phenotypic differentiation of strain AP-38T from I. variabilis and I. nanjingensis. AP-38T represents a novel species of the genus Isoptericola, for which we propose the name Isoptericola cucumis sp. nov., with AP-38T (= LMG 29223T=CCM 8653T) as the type strain.