Virgibacillus carmonensis sp. nov., Virgibacillus necropolis sp. nov. and Virgibacillus picturae sp. nov., three novel species isolated from deteriorated mural paintings, transfer of the species of the genus Salibacillus to Virgibacillus, as Virgibacillus marismortui comb. nov. and Virgibacillus salexigens comb. nov., and emended description of the genus Virgibacillus

1 Vakgroep BFM WE10V, Laboratorium voor Microbiologie, Universiteit Gent, K. L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium 2 School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK 3 Institut für Bakteriologie, Mykologie und Hygiene, Veterinärmedizinische Universität, A-1210 Wien, Austria 4 Institut für Mikrobiologie und Genetik, Universität Wien, A-1030 Wien, Austria 5 BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Universiteit Gent, K. L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium Correspondence Jeroen Heyrman Jeroen.Heyrman{at}rug.ac.be A group of 13 strains was isolated from samples of biofilm formation on the mural paintings of the Servilia tomb (necropolis of Carmona, Spain) and the Saint-Catherine chapel (castle at Herberstein, Austria). The strains were subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study, including (GTG) 5 -PCR, 16S rDNA sequence analysis, DNA–DNA hybridizations, DNA base ratio determination, analysis of fatty acids, polar lipids and menaquinones and morphological and biochemical characterization. In a phylogenetic tree based on neighbour-joining of 16S rDNA sequences, the strains are divided in two major groups, representing three novel species according to DNA–DNA relatedness, that are positioned at approximately equal distances from Virgibacillus and Salibacillus . After comparison of the novel results with existing data, the transfer of the species of Salibacillus to Virgibacillus is proposed, with the resulting new combinations Virgibacillus marismortui comb. nov. and Virgibacillus salexigens comb. nov. Additionally, three novel species are described, for which the names Virgibacillus carmonensis sp. nov., Virgibacillus necropolis sp. nov. and Virgibacillus picturae sp. nov. are proposed. The respective type strains are LMG 20964 T (=DSM 14868 T ), LMG 19488 T (=DSM 14866 T ) and LMG 19492 T (=DSM 14867 T ). Finally, an emended description of the genus Virgibacillus is given. Published online ahead of print on 9 August 2002 as DOI 10.1099/ijs.0.02371-0. The EMBL accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequences of V. carmonensis LMG 20964 T , V. necropolis LMG 19488 T and V. picturae LMG 19492 T are respectively AJ316302, AJ315056 and AJ315060. Photomicrographs of sporangia and vegetative cells of the type strains of the three novel species are available as supplementary material in IJSEM Online ( http://ijs.sgmjournals.org ).