Proposal of nine novel species of the Bacillus cereus group

Nine novel Gram-stain-positive bacteria were investigated by a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Based on the analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences, these strains belonged to the Bacillus cereus group, sharing over 97% similarity with the known species of this group, and less than 95% similarity with other species of the genus Bacillus. Multilocus sequence typing analysis showed that they formed nine robust and well-separated branches from the known species. The digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values between the nine strains were, respectively, below the 70 and 96% threshold values for species definition, and between each strain and the known type strains of this group were also below the two threshold values. On the basis of the phenotypic and phylogenetic data, along with low dDDH and ANI values among these strains, these bacteria are assigned to the following nine novel species of the B. cereus group: Bacillus paranthracis sp. nov., type strain Mn5(T) (= MCCC 1A00395(T) = KCTC 33714(T) = LMG 28873(T)); Bacillus pacificus sp. nov., type strain EB422(T) (= MCCC 1A06182T = KCTC 33858T); Bacillus tropicus sp. nov., type strain N24T (= MCCC 1A01406(T) = KCTC 33711(T) = LMG 28874T); Bacillus albus sp. nov., type strain N35-10-2(T) (= MCCC 1A02146(T) = KCTC 33710(T) = LMG 28875(T)); Bacillus mobilis sp. nov., type strain 0711P9-1(T) (= MCCC 1A05942(T) = KCTC 33717(T) = LMG 28877(T)); Bacillus luti sp. nov., type strain TD41(T) (= MCCC 1A00359(T) = KCTC 33716(T) = LMG 28872(T)); Bacillus proteolyticus sp. nov., type strain TD42(T) (= MCCC 1A00365(T) = KCTC 33715(T) = LMG 28870(T)); Bacillus nitratireducens sp. nov., type strain 4049(T) (= MCCC 1A00732(T) = KCTC 33713(T) = LMG 28871(T)); and Bacillus paramycoides sp. nov., type strain NH24A2(T) (= MCCC 1A04098(T) = KCTC 33709(T) = LMG 28876(T)).