Bacillus populi sp nov isolated from Populus euphratica rhizosphere soil of the Taklamakan desert

A rod-shaped, endospore-forming, aerobic bacterium, designated FJAT-45347(T), was isolated from rhizosphere soil collected from the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang (PR China). Growth was observed at 15-35 degrees C (optimum 25 degrees C), in 0% and 20.0% NaCl (optimum 8.0 %) and at pH 7.5-12.0 (optimum 8.0), respectively. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained mesodiaminopimelic acid and the isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The main fatty acids were iso-C-15:0, anteiso-C-15:0 and anteiso-C-17:0. The main polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences affiliated FJAT-45347(T) to the genus Bacillus, and it showed the highest sequence similarities to Bacillus clarkii DSM 8720(T) (96.1 %). The average nucleotide identity and in silico DNA-DNA hybridization values between FJAT-45347(T) and the most closely related species were 68.5 and 26.2 %, respectively, which were lower than the thresholds commonly used to define species (96 and 70 %, respectively), indicating that it represented a member of a different taxon. The DNA G+C content was 40.6 mol%. The phenotypic characters and taxono-genomics study revealed that FJAT-45347(T) represents a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus populi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is FJAT-45347(T) (=DSM 104632(T) =CCTCC AB 2016257(T)).