Brevibacterium picturae sp. nov., isolated from a damaged mural painting at the Saint-Catherine chapel (Castle Herberstein, Austria).

Three strains showing highly similar (GTG)5-PCR patterns were isolated from a heavily damaged mural painting at the Saint-Catherine chapel (Castle Herberstein, Austria). On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, the strains were attributed to Brevibacterium, with Brevibacterium casei (96.7 %), Brevibacterium iodinum (96.7 %) and Brevibacterium linens (96.6 %) as the closest related species. Chemotaxonomic data [peptidoglycan contains meso-diaminopimelic acid; mycolic acids absent; MK-8(H2) as the major menaquinone; polar lipids phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol present; anteiso-C(15 : 0) and anteiso-C(17 : 0) as major fatty acids] supported the affiliation of the strains to the genus Brevibacterium. Additional physiological and biochemical tests confirmed the taxonomic position of the strains and allowed phenotypic differentiation from Brevibacterium species with validly published names. The isolates from the mural painting, therefore, represent a novel species, for which the name Brevibacterium picturae sp. nov. is proposed, with LMG 22061T (= DSM 16132T) as the type strain.