A novel bacterium, designated DCY114T, was isolated from ginseng-cultivated soil in Gochang-gun, Republic of Korea. This isolate was assigned to the genus Paenibacillus and is closely related to Paenibacillus amylolyticus NRRL NRS-290T (98.3%), P. dongdonensis KUDC0114T (98.0%), P. tylopili MK2T (97.9%), P. tundrae A10bT (97.8%), and P. xylanexedens B22aT (97.5%) based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Strain DCY114T is a Gram-reaction positive, catalase and oxidase positive, facultatively aerobic rod that is motile by peritrichous flagella. Strain DCY114T produces siderophores and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and is able to solubilize phosphate as a plant growth-promoting bacterium. MK-7 was the diagnostic menaquinone. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0, C16:0, and C18:0, and the major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and an unknown amino lipid (AL1,2). The genomic DNA G + C content was 46.0 mol%. Phenotypic and chemotaxonomic results also placed strain DCY114T within the genus Paenibacillus. DNA-DNA homology values between strain DCY114T and closely related reference strains were lower than 43%. The low DNA relatedness data in combination with phylogenetic and biochemical tests indicated that strain DCY114T could not be assigned to a recognized species. The results of this study support that the DCY114T strain is a novel species belonging to the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus panacihumi is proposed. The type strain is DCY114T (= KCTC 33915T = JCM 32073T).
Keywords: Ginseng-cultivated soil; Paenibacillus panacihumi; Plant growth-promoting bacterium.