A strict aerobic bacterium, strain JW14T was isolated from soil in the Republic of Korea. Cells were Gram-stain-positive, non-endospore-forming and motile rods showing catalase-positive and oxidase-negative activities. Growth of strain JW14T was observed at 20-37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), pH 6.0-10.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and in the presence of 0-2.0% NaCl (optimum, 0%). Strain JW14T contained menaquinone-7 as the sole isoprenoid quinone, anteiso-C15:0, C16:0 and iso-C16 : 0 as the major fatty acids (>10.0%), and diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified aminophospholipids and an unidentified lipid as the major polar lipids. The cell-wall peptidoglycan of strain JW14T contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The DNA G+C content of strain JW14T calculated from the whole genome sequence was 48.1 mol%. Strain JW14T was most closely related to Paenibacillus graminis DSM 15220T with 97.4% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain JW14T formed a distinct phyletic lineage from closely related type strains within the genus Paenibacillus. Based on the results of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular analyses, strain JW14T represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus agri sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JW14T (=KACC 21840T=JCM 34279T).
Keywords: Firmicutes; Paenibacillus agri; new taxa; soil.