Cohnella thermotolerans gen. nov., sp nov., and classification of 'Paenibacillus hongkongensis' as Cohnella hongkongensis sp nov.

A Gram-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming organism, strain CCUG 47242(T), was isolated from a sample of industrial starch production in Sweden. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis demonstrated that this isolate was moderately related to species of the genus Paenibacillus, with < 94-4% sequence similarity to all other hitherto described Paenibacillus species, Strain CCUG 47242(T) showed the greatest sequence similarity (96.5%) to 'Paenibacillus hongkongensis' HKU3, a strain with a name that has not yet been validly published. Chemotaxonomic data [major menaquinone, MK-7 (98%); major polar lipids, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, lysyl-phosphatidylglycerol, two unknown phospholipids, four unknown aminophospholipids; major fatty acids, iso-C-16:0 and anteiso-C-15:0] showed some significant differences when compared with the type species of the genus Paenibacillus, Paenibacillus polymyxa. Physiological and biochemical tests allowed clear phenotypic differentiation of strain CCUG 47242(T) from strain HKU3. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, in combination with chemotaxonomic data, strains CCUG 47242(T) and HKU3 represent two novel species of a new genus of endospore-forming bacteria for which we propose the names Cohnella thermotolerans gen. nov., sp. nov. (type strain CCUG 47242(T)=CIP 108492(T) =DSM 17683(T)) and Cohnella hongkongensis sp. nov. (type strain HKU3(T) =CCUG 4957(T)=CIP 107898(T)= DSM 17642(T)).