Paenibacillus agri sp. nov., isolated from soil

A strict aerobic bacterium, strain JW14(T) was isolated from soil in the Republic of Korea. Cells were Gram-stain-positive, nonendospore-forming and motile rods showing catalase-positive and oxidase-negative activities. Growth of strain JW14(T) was observed at 20-37 degrees C (optimum, 30 degrees C), pH 6.0-10.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0-2.0% NaCl (optimum, 0%). Strain JW14(T) contained menaquinone-7 as the sole isoprenoid quinone, anteiso-C-15:0, C-16(:0) and iso-C-16(:0) as the major fatty acids (>10.0%), and diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified aminophospholipids and an unidentified lipid as the major polar lipids. The cell-wall peptidoglycan of strain JW14(T) contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The DNA G+C content of strain JW14(T) calculated from the whole genome sequence was 48.1 mol%. Strain JW14(T) was most closely related to Paenibacillus graminis DSM 15220(T) with 97.4% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain JW14(T) formed a distinct phyletic lineage from closely related type strains within the genus Paenibacillus. Based on the results of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular analyses, strain JW14(T) represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus agri sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JW14(T) (=KACC 21840(T)=JCM 34279(T)).