A Gram-positive, rod-or coccoid-shaped and N-hexanoyl-L-homoserine lactone-degrading bacterial strain, A2-4 T , was isolated from a soil in Korea, and its taxonomic position was investigated by using a polyphasic approach. Strain A2-4 T grew optimally at pH 7?0-8?0 and 30 6C without NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain A2-4 T is most closely related to members of the genus Nocardioides. Strain A2-4 T possessed chemotaxonomic properties indicative of members of the genus Nocardioides; the cell-wall peptidoglycan type was based on LL-diaminopimelic acid, MK-8(H 4 ) was the predominant menaquinone and iso-C 16 : 0 was the predominant fatty acid. The DNA G+C content was 72?1 mol%. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain A2-4 T was 98?3-99?1 % similar to those of the type strains of Nocardioides simplex, Nocardioides aromaticivorans and Nocardioides nitrophenolicus and 93?8-96?3 % similar to those of the type strains of other Nocardioides species. Strain A2-4 T could be distinguished from the three phylogenetic relatives, N. nitrophenolicus, N. aromaticivorans and N. simplex, by DNA-DNA relatedness (25-42 %) and by differences in some phenotypic characteristics. On the basis of the phenotypic, phylogenetic and genetic data, the strain represents a novel species of the genus Nocardioides, for which the name Nocardioides kongjuensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is A2-4 T (=KCTC 19054 T =JCM 12609 T ).Many bacteria, particularly Gram-negative bacteria, are known to control the expression of specific genes in response to cell density by means of a signalling mechanism referred to as quorum-sensing (Salmond et al., 1995;Swift et al., 1996; Fuqua & Greenberg, 1998). This type of signalling mechanism depends on small, diffusible signal molecules, N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs), all of which have an identical homoserine lactone ring, although the acyl side-chain length and substitutions in the side-chain differ. The quorum-sensing system plays an important role in the control of virulence-gene expression in pathogenic bacteria, including Erwinia carotovora (Jones et al., 1993) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pearson et al., 1994(Pearson et al., , 1997. Enzymic degradation of AHL molecules was reported as a useful strategy for disrupting the quorum-sensing signal system, thereby interfering with infection in the case of many pathogenic bacteria. Some AHL-degrading microorganisms and enzymes have been reported recently (Dong et al., 2000;Leadbetter & Greenberg, 2000;Lee et al., 2002; Flagan et al., 2003; Park et al., 2003;Uroz et al., 2003). In this study, an AHL-degrading Nocardioides-like bacterial strain, A2-4 T , which was isolated from a soil sample, is described. To date, bacteria that are able to degrade AHLs have not been reported for the genus Nocardioides. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to determine the exact taxonomic position of strain A2-4 T by using a polyphasic taxonomic approach.Soil samples collected from Kongju, Korea, were used as the source ...