Bacillus niabensis sp. nov., isolated from cotton-waste composts for mushroom cultivation

1 Korean Agricultural Culture Collection (KACC), Microbial Genetics Division, National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Rural Development Administration, Suwon 441-707, Republic of Korea 2 Applied Microbiology Division, National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, Rural Development Administration, Suwon 441-707, Republic of Korea Correspondence Byung-Yong Kim kimby{at}rda.go.kr A group of five bacilli, designated strains 4T12, 4T19 T , 5M45, 5M53 and 5T52, isolated from cotton-waste composts for mushroom cultivation, were examined. These strains were Gram-positive, aerobic, motile, spore-forming rods. 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses revealed that the isolates belonged to the genus Bacillus , showing the highest levels of similarity (approx. 96.6–96.9 %) with respect to Bacillus herbersteinensis DSM 16534 T . The values for DNA–DNA hybridization (approx. 85–96 %) among these five strains revealed that they belong to the same species. The major menaquinone present was MK-7 and the predominant cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C 15 : 0 (approx. 24.5–33.9 %) and C 16 : 0 (approx. 15.1–34.1 %). The DNA G+C contents were 37.7–40.9 mol%. On the basis of physiological, biochemical, chemotaxonomic and comparative genomic analyses, the five isolates represent a novel species of the genus Bacillus , for which the name Bacillus niabensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 4T19 T (=KACC 11279 T =DSM 17723 T ). The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains 4T12, 4T19 T , 5M45, 5M53 and 5T52 are DQ176420 , AY998119 , DQ176421 , DQ176422 and DQ176423 , respectively. Phase-contrast micrographs of the novel strains and tables showing their phenotypic characteristics and fatty acid compositions and levels of DNA–DNA hybridization between the novel isolates are available as supplementary material with the online version of this paper.