Immunodiffusion Analyses of Phenetically Defined Strains of Streptomyces, Streptoverticillium and Nocardiopsis

Summary Seventeen strains of Streptomyces , 13 of Streptoverticillium and two of Nocardiopsis dassonvillei were studied by the immunodiffusion technique and the results were compared with those of a previous numerical phenetic study. Generally there was good agreement between the serological and phenetic data, and the former supported the view that there is much synonymy among the described species of Streptomyces and Streptoverticillium . Thus, the number of species of these genera can be substantially reduced. The immunological results also underlined the close relationships between these genera, this being particularly marked between streptoverticillia and the Streptomyces lavendulae cluster. The relationships of Nocardiopsis dassonvillei were ambiguous as one strain showed clear serological affinities with streptomycetes but the other did not.