Paenibacillus nebraskensis sp. nov., isolated from the root surface of field-grown maize

A Gram-positive-staining, aerobic, non-endospore-forming bacterial strain (JJ-59^T), isolated from a field-grown maize plant in Dunbar, Nebraska in 2014 was studied by a polyphasic approach. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity comparisons, strain JJ-59^T was shown to be a member of the genus Paenibacillus, most closely related to the type strains of Paenibacillus aceris (98.6 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and Paenibacillus chondroitinus (97.8 %). For all other type strains of species of the genus Paenibacillus lower 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities were obtained. DNA-DNA hybridization values of strain JJ-59^T to the type strains of P. aceris and P. chondroitinus were 26 % (reciprocal, 59 %) and 52 % (reciprocal, 59 %), respectively. Chemotaxonomic characteristics such as the presence of meso-diaminopimelic acid in the peptidoglycan, the major quinone MK-7 and spermidine as the major polyamine were in agreement with the characteristics of the genus Paenibacillus. Strain JJ-59^T shared with its next related species P. aceris the major lipids diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and an unidentified aminophospholipid, but the presence/absence of certain lipids was clearly distinguishable. Major fatty acids of strain JJ-59^T were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0, and the genomic G+C content is 47.2 mol%. Physiological and biochemical characteristics of strain JJ-59^T were clearly different from the most closely related species of the genus Paenibacillus. Thus, strain JJ-59^T represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus nebraskensis sp. nov. is proposed, with JJ-59^T (=DSM 103623^T=CIP 111179^T=LMG 29764^T) as the type strain.