Bacillus haikouensis sp. nov., a facultatively anaerobic halotolerant bacterium isolated from a paddy soil

A Gram-stain positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming and facultatively anaerobic halotolerant bacterium, designated as C-89T, was isolated from a paddy field soil in Haikou, Hainan Province, People’s Republic of China. Optimal growth was observed at 37 °C and pH 7.0 in the presence of 4 % NaCl (w/v). The predominant menaquinone was identified as MK-7, the major cellular fatty acids were identified as anteiso-C15:0 and iso-C15:0, and the major cellular polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and two unknown phospholipids. The peptidoglycan type was determined to be based on meso-DAP. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, the closest phylogenetic relatives were identified as Bacillus vietnamensis JCM 11124T (98.8 % sequence similarity), Bacillus aquimaris JCM 11545T (98.6 %) and Bacillusmarisflavi JCM 11544T (98.5 %). The DNA G+C content of strain C-89T was determined to be 45.4 mol%. The DNA–DNA relatedness values of strain C-89T with its closest relatives were below 18 %. Therefore, on the basis of phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic, and phenotypic results, strain C-89T can be considered to represent a novel species within the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus haikouensis sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is C-89T (=KCTC 33545T = CCTCC AB 2014076T).