Characterization of alkaliphilic Bacillus strains used in industry:: proposal of five novel species

Twenty alkaliphilic bacterial strains from industrial applications or enzyme studies were subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic investigation, including 16S rRNA gene sequencing, determination of genomic DNA G+C content, DNA-DNA hybridization, fatty acid analysis and standard bacteriological characterization. By comparing the groupings obtained based on the genomic DNA G+C content and the construction of a phylogenetic tree based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence, 12 clusters of similar strains were recognized. DNA-DNA hybridization revealed that these clusters represented five novel genospecies. Further analysis supported the proposal of five novel species in the genus Bacillus: Bacillus wakoensis sp. nov. (type strain N-1(T)=JCM 9140(T)= DSM 2521(T)), Bacillus hemicellulosilyticus sp. nov. (type strain C-11(T)=JCM 9152(T)= DSM 167317), Bacillus cellulosilyticus sp. nov. (type strain N-4(T)=JCM 9156(T)=DSM 25227), Bacillus akibai sp. nov. (type strain 1139(T)=JCM 9157(T)=ATCC 43226(T)) and Bacillus mannanilyticus sp. nov. (type strain AM-001(T)=JCM 10596(T)=DSM 16130(T)).