A Gram-positive, non-motile, endospore-forming bacterial strain, designated Gsoil 420T, was isolated from soil of a ginseng field in Pocheon Province, South Korea, and was characterized, using a polyphasic approach, in order to determine its taxonomic position. The novel isolate consisted of strictly aerobic, rod-shaped cells and was able to grow in medium supplemented with up to 12% NaCl at 25 degrees C and pH 6.5-7.0. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain Gsoil 420T fell within the radiation of the cluster comprising Bacillus species and formed a coherent cluster with Bacillus niacini (16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, 98.6%), Bacillus bataviensis (98.6%), Bacillus soli (98.3%), Bacillus drentensis (98.0%), Bacillus novalis (98.0%), Bacillus vireti (97.9%), Bacillus foraminis (97.6%), Bacillus fumarioli (97.4%) and Bacillus jeotgali (97.0%). The levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with respect to other Bacillus species with validly published names were less than 96.8%. Strain Gsoil 420T had a genomic DNA G+C content of 44.9 mol% and the predominant respiratory quinone was MK-7. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0 (33.9%), iso-C15:0 (24.5%) and iso-C14:0 (19.9%). These chemotaxonomic results supported the affiliation of strain Gsoil 420T to the genus Bacillus. However, low DNA-DNA relatedness values and distinguishing phenotypic characteristics allowed genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strain Gsoil 420T from recognized Bacillus species. On the basis of its phenotypic properties and phylogenetic distinctiveness, strain Gsoil 420T represents a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus pocheonensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Gsoil 420T (=KCTC 13943T=DSM 18135T).