Abstract

A rod-shaped, white color colony with lobate architectures, strain h2T was isolated from a moderately acidic soil on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. Comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the strain h2T is closely related to Paenibacillus relictisesami DSM 25385T (97.4%, 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Paenibacillus azoreducens KACC 11244T (97.2%), and Paenibacillus cookii LMG 18419T (97.0%). DNA-DNA hybridization indicated that the strain h2T has relatively low levels of DNA-DNA relatedness with respect to P. relictisesami DSM 25385T (10.2%) and P. azoreducens KACC 11244T (13.7%). Additionally, the genomic DNA G + C content of h2T is 51.5 mol%. The isolated strain grew at pH 4.0–9.0 (optimum, pH 6.0–7.0) and 0–5% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0%) and a temperature of 15–45°C (optimum 35°C). The quinones in the strain are MK-6 and MK-7, and the predominant fatty acid is C15:0 anteiso (32.1%) followed by C17:0 anteiso (26.5%), and C16:0 iso (21.0%). Based on its phenotypic properties, genotypic distinctiveness, and chemotaxonomic features, strain h2T is proposed as a novel species in the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus albilobatus sp. nov. is proposed (= KCCM 43269T = JCM 32395T = LMG 30408T). The type strain of Paenibacillus albilobatus is h2T.

• Keywords: Paenibacillus albilobatus sp. nov.; Jeju Island; soil; polyphasic; novel species