Paenibacillus foliorum sp. nov., Paenibacillus phytohabitans sp. nov., Paenibacillus plantarum sp. nov., Paenibacillus planticolens sp. nov., Paenibacillus phytorum sp. nov. and Paenibacillus germinis sp. nov., isolated from the Arabidopsis thaliana phyllosphere

Six endospore-forming, Gram-stain-positive or variable, motile, rod--shaped, aerobic or facultatively anaerobic bacteria with different MALDI-TOF mass spectra (MS) were isolated from the phyllosphere of Arabidopsis thaliana plants grown in plant chambers after inoculation of surface sterilized seeds with a top soil microbial cell suspension. They were identified as members of the genus Paenibacillus through comparison with a commercial MALDI-TOF MS database and comparative 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Their genome sequences comprised multiple biosynthetic gene clusters and suggested they have unexplored biotechnological potential. Analyses of average nucleotide identity values between these strains and the type strains of their nearest neighbour species demonstrated that they represented a novel Paenibacillus species each. A detailed phenotypic comparison yielded distinctive biochemical characteristics for each of these novel species. We therefore propose to classify that these isolates into six novel species within genus Paenibacillus, for which we propose the names Paenibacillus foliorum sp. nov., Paenibacillus phytohabitans sp. nov., Paenibacillus plantarum sp. nov., Paenibacillus planticolens sp. nov., Paenibacillus phytorum sp. nov. and Paenibacillus germinis sp. nov., with strains LMG 31456(T) (=R-74617(T)= CECT 30138(T)), LMG 31459(T) (= R-74621(T)=CECT 30135(T)), LMG 31461(T) (=R-74618(T)=CECT 30133(T)), LMG 31457(T) (=R-74619(T)= CECT 30137(T)), LMG 31458(T) (=R-74620(T)=CECT 30136(T)) and LMG 31460(T) (=R-74622(T)=CECT 30134(T)) as the type strains, respectively.