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Studies were conducted to characterize morphological and molecular profiles of two isolates of Paratrichodorus porosus (SZ1 and SZ2) which were recovered from Acacia mangium in Tianxinshan and Gleichenia linearis in Yangmeikeng environmental monitoring sites in Shenzhen, China, respectively. Analysis of morphometric, morphological and molecular characters revealed these two Shenzhen isolates are identical to P. porosus. Measurements of both study isolates lie within the ranges for P. porosus. It is typologically characterized by possessing a clearly swollen body cuticle after fixation, an onchiostyle ventrally curved, 46-58 μm long, a pharyngeal bulb usually with a well developed anterior-dorsal intestinal overlap, a secretoryexcretory pore opening between the nerve ring and anterior end of pharyngeal bulb, 90-110 μm from the anterior end, a reproductive system with didelphic, amphidelphic, without spermathecae, a pore-like vulva in ventral view and occupying 52.0 %-59.5 % of total body length from anterior end, a short and barrel-shaped vagina with small sclerotizations, a pair of ventromedian advulvar body pores located prevulvar and postvulvar, a rounded tail and a subterminal anus in females. The sequence analysis based on partial rDNA 18S gene and 28S D2/D3 expansion segment confirm its identity as P. porosus. This is the first report of P. porosus associated with A. mangium and G. linearis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five thousand actinomycetes were isolated from soil samples collected from rainforests in Singapore and the generic identities of these isolates were determined by using a procedure that combined morphological, chemotaxonomic and 16S rDNA sequence-based phylogenetic analyses. Actinomycetes belonging to a total of 36 genera were identified. The most abundant isolates are members of Streptomyces, Micromonospora, Actinoplanes, Actinomadura, Nonomuria, Nocardia and Streptosporangium. By phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequences of our isolates together with those of known actinomycete species, we also evaluated the species diversity of several genera including Streptomyces, Micromonospora, Nonomuria, and Actinomadura. We found that: first, the tropical isolates are present in most clades represented by known species; and second, many tropical isolates form new clades distant from the known species, indicating the presence of unidentified taxa at both species and genus levels. Based on these results, we conclude that actinomycete diversity in the tropical rainforest is very great and should represent an excellent source for discovery of novel bioactive compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]