Taxonomy
Streptomyces is the largest genus of the Actinobacteria and is the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae. These are Gram positive bacteria with high GC content and are characterised by a complex secondary metabolism. They produce over two-thirds of the clinically useful antibiotics of natural origin . Streptomycetes are found predominantly in soil and in decaying vegetation, and most produce spores. Streptomycetes are noted for their distinct "earthy" odor which results from production of a volatile metabolite, geosmin.
Like other streptomycetes, S. griseus has a high GC content in its genome, with an average of 72.2%. The species was first described by Waksman and Henrici in 1948. The taxonomy of S. griseus and its evolutionarily related strains have been a considerable source of confusion for microbial systematists. 16S rRNA gene sequence data have been used to recognise the related strains, and are called S. griseus 16S rRNA gene clade. The strains of this clade have homogeneous phenotypic properties but show substantial genotypic heterogenecity based on genomic data. Several attempts are still made to solve this issue using techniques such as DNA:DNA homology and multilocus sequence typing. A whole genome sequence was recently carried out on the IFO 13350 strain of S. griseus.
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