Bacillus zeae sp. nov., isolated from the rhizosphere of Zea mays

A Gram-positive-staining, aerobic organism, isolated from the rhizosphere of Zea mays, was investigated in detail. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity comparisons, strain JJ-247T was grouped into the genus Bacillus, most closely related to Bacillus foraminis (98.4 %). The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the sequences of the type strains of other species of the genus Bacillus was <97.4 %. The fatty acid profile with the major fatty acids, anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0, iso-C14 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0 supported the grouping of the strain to the genus Bacillus. The polar lipid profile contained the major components diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and an unidentified aminophospholipid. The major quinone was menaquinone MK-7, and the major polyamine was spermidine. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain JJ-247T was 44.5 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridizations with the type strain B. foraminis LMG 23147T resulted in values below 70 %. In addition, physiological and biochemical test results allowed a clear phenotypic differentiation of strain JJ-247T from B. foraminis. As a consequence, JJ-247T represents a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which we propose the name Bacillus zeae sp. nov., with JJ-247T (=CCM 8726T=LMG 29876T) as the type strain.