Bacillus oceani sp nov., isolated from seawater

Two Gram-staining-positive, endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterial strains, designated strain SW109(T) and strain W006, were isolated from a seawater sample collected from the Indian Ocean. The strains were strictly aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-positive and motile by peritrichous flagella. The predominant cellular fatty acids (>10 %) were anteiso-C-15 : 0, iso-C-15 : 0 and iso-C-14 : 0. The major menaquinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7) and the major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain SW109(T) and strain W006 was 46.3 and 46.1 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the two strains represented a novel member of the genus Bacillus, showing the highest similarity with Bacillus halodurans LMG 7121(T) and Bacillus okuhidensis DSM 13666(T) (96.4 and 96.2% sequence similarity, respectively). On the basis of phylogenetic inference and phenotypic characteristics, it is proposed that the two strains represent a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus oceani sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SW109(T) (=CGMCC 1.12347(T)=DSM 100579(T)).