Metabacillus bambusae sp. nov., isolated from bamboo grove soil

A bacterial strain designated BG109^T was isolated from bamboo grove soil, and subjected to polyphasic taxonomic characterization. BG109^T is an aerobic, non-motile, Gram-stain-positive and endospore-forming bacterium. BG109^T showed growth at 10-40 °C (optimum, 37 °C), at pH 4-10 (optimum, 8), and in the presence of 0-7 % NaCl concentration (optimum, 0-1 %). The predominant menaquinone of BG109^T was MK-7, and the cell wall peptidoglycan contained major amounts of meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid. The diagnostic polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol, and unidentified phospholipids and glycolipids were also present. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C_15 : 0, iso-C_15 : 0, iso-C_14 : 0, iso-C_16 : 0 and C_16 : 0. The chemotaxonomic properties of BG109^T were generally consistent with those of members of the genus Metabacillus. BG109^T shared highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with 'Metabacillus elymi' KUDC1714 (99.26 %), Metabacillus sediminilitoris DSL-17^T (98.17 %), Metabacillus litoralis SW-211^T (98.16 %) and Metabacillus crassostreae JSM 100118^T (97.13 %), all of which were well below the suggested cutoff level for species distinction. The genome level relatedness also confirmed the separation of BG109^T from other species of the genus Metabacillus. Thus, it is evident that BG109^T merits recognition as representing a novel species of the genus Metabacillus, for which the name Metabacillus bambusae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BG109^T (=KCTC 43190^T=JCM 34515^T).