Paenibacillus pocheonensis sp. nov., a facultative anaerobe isolated from soil of a ginseng field

Abstract

A Gram-positive, aerobic or facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacterium, strain Gsoil 1138T, was isolated from soil of a ginseng field in Pocheon Province, South Korea, and was characterized in order to determine its taxonomic position. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain Gsoil 1138T was shown to belong to the family Paenibacillaceae and was most closely related to the type strains of Paenibacillus chondroitinus (98.2 % similarity) and Paenibacillus alginolyticus (96.5 %). Levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain Gsoil 1138T and the type strains of other recognized species of the genus Paenibacillus were below 96.5 %. The G+C content of the genomic DNA of strain Gsoil 1138T was 52.1±0.2 mol% (mean±sd of three determinations). Phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data (MK-7 as the major menaquinone and anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0 as the predominant fatty acids) supported the affiliation of strain Gsoil 1138T to the genus Paenibacillus. The results of DNA–DNA hybridization experiments and physiological and biochemical tests allowed strain Gsoil 1138T to be distinguished genotypically and phenotypically from recognized species of the genus Paenibacillus. Strain Gsoil 1138T is therefore considered to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus pocheonensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Gsoil 1138T (=KCTC 13941T=LMG 23404T).