The samples of plant litter were collected in 2005 from the
mountainside at Ba Be National Park, Bac Kan Province, in
northern Vietnam. The samples were dried at room
temperature for 5–7 days and then inoculated using the
rehydration–centrifugation method (Hayakawa et al., 2000)
on humic acid-vitamin agar (Hayakawa & Nonomura,
1987) containing nalidixic acid (20 mg l21) and kabicidin
(0.75 mg l21). Our isolates, designated VN05A0342,
VN05A0351 and VN05A0415T, were isolated after incubation
for more than 10 days at room temperature.
Strains VN05A0342, VN05A0351 and VN05A0415T were
incubated on yeast extract-soluble starch medium (YS
medium; 2 g yeast extract, 10 g soluble starch and 15 g
agar l21; pH 7.3) at 28 uC for 10–14 days. The orange
colonies that formed appeared moist and were raised, like