Virgibacillus koreensis sp. nov., a novel bacterium from a salt field, and transfer of Virgibacillus picturae to the genus Oceanobacillus as Oceanobacillus picturae comb. nov. with emended descriptions

Jung-Sook Lee, Jee-Min Lim, Keun Chul Lee, Jae-Chan Lee, Yong-Ha Park and Chang-Jin Kim

Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, 52 Oeundong, Yusong, Daejeon 305-333, Korea

A novel Virgibacillus strain, BH30097^T, was isolated from a salt field near Taean-Gun on the Yellow Sea in Korea. Cells were Gram-positive rods and bore ellipsoidal endospores in terminal positions. The optimum pH and temperature for growth of this organism were pH 7 and 25 °C, respectively. The main respiratory quinone was MK-7 and the major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-^C15 : 0 and iso-^C16 : 0. Analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence data revealed that the isolate formed an evolutionary lineage distinct from other Virgibacillus species. Levels of sequence similarity between the isolate and other Virgibacillus species ranged from 93·8 to 96·7 %. DNA-DNA relatedness values between strain BH30097^T and a phylogenetically closely related strain, Virgibacillus halodenitrificans KCTC 3790^T, were less than 24 %. On the basis of morphological, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics, 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison and DNA-DNA hybridization, a novel species, Virgibacillus koreensis sp. nov., is proposed, with the type strain BH30097^T (=KCTC 3823^T=JCM 12387^T). It is also proposed that Virgibacillus picturae be transferred to the genus Oceanobacillus as Oceanobacillus picturae comb. nov. based on its 16S rRNA gene sequences and other taxonomic characteristics.

Keywords: Virgibacillus;Oceanobacillus; microorganisms;Taxonomy, Microbes.

E-mail: changjin@kribb.re.kr