Bacteria within the genus Kitasatospora exhibit similar life style and morphology to Streptomyces species. Kitasatospora is also comparable to Streptomyces in its capacity to produce bioactive secondary metabolites. On the other hand, there are clear phenotypic criteria to distinguish Kitasatospora from Streptomyces such as the difference in cell wall composition; cell wall peptidoglycan of Streptomyces species contain the LL isomer of diaminopimelic acid (DAP), while K. setae contains both LL- and meso-DAP.

Kitasatospora setae NBRC 14216^T (= KM-6054^T) is a soil-habiting bacterium which is known to produce setamycin (bafilomycin B1) and bafilomycin A1, specific inhibitors of vacuolar ATPase and commonly used as biochemical reagents for investigation of molecular transport in eukaryotic cells.

The genome was composed of a single linear chromosome of 8,783,278 bp with 127,148 bp of terminal inverted repeats (TIRs). These characteristics in the genome topology were similar to those of Streptomyces. A total of 24 genes or gene clusters in the K. setae genome were predicted to be involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, underscoring the importance of the genus Kitasatospora as the source of bioactive compounds. Furthermore, molecular phylogenetic analysis and genome-wide comparison of genes related to morphological differentiation and cell wall biosynthesis provided further insights into the evolutional relationship of Streptomyces and Kitasatospora.