A molecular approach in the analysis of the faecal bacterial community in an African millipede belonging to the family Spirostreptidae (Diplopoda)

Forty selected bacterial isolates of the faecal microbial community in an African millipede belonging to the family Spirostreptidae were characterized by amplified ribosomal DNA-restriction analysis (ARDRA) and by sequencing either the first 500 bp or almost the entire length of the 16S rRNA gene. Sequence data show that the faecal microbial community investigated is dominated by members of the class Actinobacteria with most of the strains belonging to the genera Rhodococcus, Cellulomonas and Leifsonia. In certain cases, low similarity values to the previously described 16S rDNA sequences suggest that these strains presumably constitute new species within the Actinobacteria.