Bacillus macauensis sp nov, a long-chain bacterium isolated from a drinking water supply

A novel long-chain, Gram-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming strain was isolated from the influent of a drinking water treatment plant in Macau, China. This facultatively anaerobic isolate (2.0-5.0 mu m in length and 0.8-1.2 mu m in diameter) formed long chains over 100 mu m in length in both liquid and solid media. It had a growth temperature range of 20-40 degrees C, with an optimum at about 30 degrees C, and a growth pH range of 6.0-10.0, with an optimum at pH 8.5. The G+C content of the DNA extracted was 40.8 mol%. The main fatty acid components were anteiso-C-15:0 (67.2%) and iso-C-15:0 (21.7%), with small quantities of iso-C-14:0, C-14:0, iso-C-16:0 and iso-C-17:0. The main quinone component was MK-7. Phylogenetic analyses based on its 16SrRNA gene sequence revealed that this isolate is a member of the genus Bacillus, with no close relatives at the species level (sequence similarity < 96.1%). These phenotypic and genetic properties suggested that this strain represents a novel species, for which the name Bacillus macauensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ZFHKF-1(T) (=JCM 13285(T) =DSM 17262(T)).