Terribacillus saccharophilus gen. nov., sp. nov. and Terribacillus halophilus sp. nov., spore-forming bacteria isolated from field soil in Japan

Abstract

Three strains, 002-048T, RB589 and 002-051T, isolated from field soil in Japan, were characterized using a polyphasic approach. The isolates were Gram-positive, strictly aerobic, non-motile rods that formed ellipsoidal, subterminal endospores. The chemotaxonomic characteristics of these isolates included the presence of meso-diaminopimelic acid as the cell-wall peptidoglycan, anteiso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0 as the major cellular fatty acids and MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone. The DNA G+C content was 44–46 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the isolates represented an independent lineage that is distinct from related taxa and exhibited less than 94.3 % sequence similarity with respect to those taxa. Moreover, a DNA–DNA hybridization analysis showed that the three isolates represented two species. On the basis of their phenotypic and phylogenetic distinctiveness, the isolates represent two species within a novel genus, for which the names Terribacillus saccharophilus gen. nov., sp. nov. and Terribacillus halophilus sp. nov. are proposed. The type strain of T. saccharophilus is 002-048T (=IAM 15309T=KCTC 13936T) and the type strain of T. halophilus is 002-051T (=IAM 15310T=KCTC 13937T).