Paenibacillus guangzhouensis sp. nov., an Fe(III)- and humus-reducing bacterium from a forest soil

A Gram-reaction-variable, rod-shaped, motile, facultatively aerobic and endospore-forming bacterium, designated strain GSS02(T), was isolated from a forest soil. Strain GSS02(T) was capable of reducing humic substances and Fe(III) oxides. Strain GSS02(T) grew optimally at 35 °C, at pH 78 and in the presence of 1% NaCl. The predominant menaquinone was MK-7. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C(15:0) and iso-C(16:0) and the polar lipid profile contained mainly phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol, with moderate amounts of two unknown aminophospholipids and a minor amount of one unknown lipid. The DNA G+C content was 53.4 mol%. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain GSS02(T) was related most closely to Paenibacillus terrigena JCM 21741(T) (98.1% similarity). Mean DNA-DNA relatedness between strain GSS02(T) and P. terrigena JCM 21741(T) was 58.8 ± 0.5%. The phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic results clearly demonstrated that strain GSS02(T) belongs to the genus Paenibacillus and represents a novel species, for which the name Paenibacillus guangzhouensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is GSS02(T) ( =KCTC 33171(T) =CCTCC AB 2013236(T)).