The taxonomic position of a bacterial strain designated T16R-228T, isolated from a rhizosphere soil sample of a tomato plant collected from a farm in Buyeo, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea, was determined using a polyphasic approach. On the basis of morphological, genetic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, it was determined to belong to the genus Paenibacillus. It was an aerobic, Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, catalase-negative, oxidase-negative rod with peritrichous flagella. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, hydroxyl- phosphatidylethanolamine and one unidentified polar lipid. Menaquiones were MK-7. Predominant cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, C16 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0. DNA G+C content was 56.8 mol%. The phylogenetic tree constructed based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed the strain formed a clade with P. mucilaginosus VKPM B-7519T, P. edaphicus T7T, P. ehimensis KCTC 3748T, P. koreensis YC300T, P. tianmuensis B27T and P. elgii SD17T, showing the highest sequence similarity with P. mucilaginosus VKPM B-7519T (96.5 %). The polyphasic data supported that strain T16R-228T was clearly distinguished from its closely related species and represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus for which the name Paenibacillus solanacearum is proposed. The type strain is T16R-228T (=KACC 18654T=NBRC 111896T).
Keywords: 16S rRNA gene; Paenibacillus solanacearum; polar lipid.