A strain of a Gram-positive, strictly aerobic, motile, rod-shaped, endospore forming bacterium was originally isolated from rhizospheric soil of a pepper plant when screening and bioprospecting for plant beneficial microorganisms. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that this strain, PB300T, is closely related to Lysinibacillus macroides DMS 54T (99.6%) and Lysinibacillus xylanilyticus DSM 23493T (99.4%). In phenotypic characterisation, the novel strain was found to grow between 15 and 40 °C and tolerate up to 10% (w/v) NaCl. Furthermore, the strain was found to grow in media with pH 5 to 10 (optimal growth at pH 7.0). The predominant cellular fatty acids were observed to be iso-C15 : 0 (56.6 %), anteiso-C15 : 0 (14.6%), C16 :1ω7C alcohol (9.3%) and C16 : 0 (7.1%). The cell wall peptidoglycan contains lysine-aspartic acid, as in its close relatives. A draft genome was completed and the DNA G + C content was determined to be 37.5% (mol content). A phylogenomic analysis of the core genome of the new strain and 5 closely related type strains of the genus Lysinibacillus revealed that this strain formed a distinct monophyletic clade with the nearest neighbour being Lysinibacillus boronitolerans. DNA-DNA relatedness studies using in silico DNA-DNA hybridizations (DDH) showed relationships for the new strain were below the species threshold of 70%. Based upon the consensus of phylogenetic and phenotypic analyses, we conclude that this strain represents a novel species within the genus Lysinibacillus, for which the name Lysinibacillus capsici sp. nov. is proposed, with type strain PB300T (= NRRL B-65515T, = CCUG 72241T).
Keywords: Biocontrol; Biostimulant; PGPR.