Paenibacillus aceris sp. nov., isolated from the rhizosphere of Acer okamotoanum, a plant native to Ulleungdo Island, Republic of Korea

Strain KUDC4121 was isolated from the rhizosphere of Acer okamotoanum, a plant native to the Korean island of Ulleungdo. The strain was a Gram-stain-positive, non-spore-forming, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium that can grow at 18-37 °C and pH 6.0-7.5, with optimum growth at 30 °C and pH 7.0. It grew on tryptic soy agar containing less than 0.5 % (w/v) NaCl and in R2A broth. Cell length ranged from 2.0 to 2.5 µm. Strain KUDC4121 was oxidase- and catalase-positive and did not hydrolyse starch or casein. The genomic G+C content was 48.8 mol%. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain KUDC4121 belongs to the genus Paenibacillus. The closest type strain was Paenibacillus chondroitinus DSM 5051 , with 97.8 % similarity, followed by Paenibacillus alginolyticus DSM 5050 (97.6 %), Paenibacillus ferrarius CY1 (97.5 %), Paenibacillus pocheonensis Gsoil 1138 (97.5 %), Paenibacillus frigoriresistens YIM 016 (97.5 %), Paenibacillus pectinilyticus RCB-08 (97.2 %) and Paenibacillus aestuarii CJ25 (96.9 %). Based on its phenotypic properties and phylogenetic and genetic data, strain KUDC4121 should be considered to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus aceris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KUDC4121 (=KCTC 13870 =DSM 24950 ).