A rod-shaped, Gram-stain-positive bacterial strain, MS74T, was isolated from soil beside Itaewon road, Seoul, Republic of Korea. The strain could grow well on R2A, nutrient agar and tryptone soya agar, but not in LB agar. MS74T tolerated 3.0 % NaCl (w/v), pH 9.0 and a temperature range from 10 to 35 °C (optimal temperature, 28 °C). From the comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequence, the strain is most closely related to Paenibacillus vulneris CCUG 53270T , Paenibacillus esterisolvens CFH S0170T, Paenibacillus rigui JCM 16352T and Paenibacillus yunnanensis YN2T with similarity percentages of 96.6 %, 96.4 %, 95.9 % and 95.8 % respectively. Major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). The major menaquinone was MK-7. The fatty acids profile mainly consisted of C15 : 0 anteiso, C15 : 0 iso, C16 : 0 iso, and C16 : 0. The DNA G+C content of the isolated strain determined from the whole-genome sequence was 51 mol%. MS74T had an average nucleotide identity (ANI) value of 73.9 % and a digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) value of 20.6 % with most closely related strain, Paenibacillus vulneris CCUG 53270T. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotypic and genotypic evidence, the isolate was identified as representing a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus piri sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MS74T (=KACC 19385T =DSM 105496T).
Keywords: Firmicutes; Itaewon; Paenibacillus piri; ellipsoidal spore; novel species; soil.