• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.1554-1560
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• 2006

A Gram-positive, aerobic or facultative anaerobic, non motile, endospore-forming bacterial strain, designated Gsoil $114^T$, was isolated from a soil sample of a ginseng field in Pocheon Province (South Korea), and was characterized taxonomically by using a polyphasic approach. It grew well on nutrient agar medium and utilized a limited number of organic substrates as sole carbon sources, including D-xylose and some other carbohydrates, but did not utilize L-amino acids and organic acids. The isolate was positive for oxidase test but negative for catalase, and negative for degradation of macromolecules such as starch, cellulose, xylan, casein, chitin, and DNA. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 41.8 mol%. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone 7 (MK-7). The major fatty acids were $anteiso-C_{15:0}$ (32.1%), $iso-C_{15:0}$ (30.5%), and $anteiso-C_{17:0}$ (30.2%). Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain Gsoil $114^T$ fell within the radiation of the cluster comprising Bacillus species and joined Bacillus shackletonii LMG $18435^T$ with a bootstrap value of 95%. The highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities were found with Bacillus shackletonii LMG $18435^T$ (97.6%), Bacillus acidicola DSM $14745^T$ (96.9%), Bacillus sporothermodurans DSM $10599^T$ (96.5%), and Bacillus oleronius DSM $9356^T$ (96.5%). The phylogenetic distance from any other validly described species within the genus Bacillus was less than 96%. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments showed that the DNA-similarities between strain Gsoil $114^T$ and closest phylogenetic neighbors were less than 39%. On the basis of its phenotypic properties and phylogenetic distinctiveness, strain Gsoil $114^T$ (=KCTC $13944^T$=DSMZ $18134^T$) was classified in the genus Bacillus as the type strain of a novel species, for which the name Bacillus ginsengihumi sp. nov. is proposed.