A novel actinomycete, designated strain NEAU-Jh3-20(T), was isolated from river sediment collected from South river in Jilin Province, north China and characterized using a polyphasic approach. Phylogenetic analysis, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, indicated that strain NEAU-Jh3-20(T) should be assigned to the genus Streptomyces and forms a distinct branch with its closest neighbour Streptomyces vitaminophilus DSM 41686(T)(97.09%). Moreover, key morphological and chemotaxonomic properties also confirmed the affiliation of strain NEAU-Jh3-20(T) to the genus Streptomyces. The cell wall contained ll-diaminopimelic acid and the whole-cell hydrolysates were glucose and ribose. The phospholipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylinositol mannosides and an unidentified phospholipid. The predominant menaquinones were MK-9(H8) and MK-9(H6). The major fatty acids were C16 : 0, C18 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0. The DNA G+C content was 72.2 mol%. A combination of DNA-DNA hybridization results and some phenotypic characteristics demonstrated that strain NEAU-Jh3-20(T) could be distinguished from its closest phylogenetic relative. Therefore, it is proposed that strain NEAU-Jh3-20(T) represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces tyrosinilyticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-Jh3-20(T) ( = CGMCC 4.7201(T)= DSM 42170(T)).