Description of unrecorded bacterial species belonging to the phylum Actinobacteria in Korea

For the collection of indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea, 77 strains within the phylum Actinobacteria were isolated from various environmental samples, fermented foods, animals and clinical specimens in 2019. Each strain showed high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>98.8%) and formed a robust phylogenetic clade with actinobacterial species that were already defined and validated with nomenclature. There is no official description of these 77 bacterial species in Korea. The isolates were assigned to 77 species, 31 genera, 18 families, 14 orders and 2 classes of the phylum Actinobacteria. All the strains except one Coriobacteriia strain were affiliated within the class Actinomycetia. Among them, the orders Streptomycetales and Microbacteriales were predominant. A number of strains were isolated from forest soils, riverside soils, and ginseng cultivated soils. Twenty-nine strains were isolated from 'Protected Ecosystem and Scenery Areas'. Morphological properties, basic biochemical characteristics, isolation source and strain IDs are described in the species descriptions.