Abstract
A moderately halophilic, round-endospore-forming bacterium (strain YKJ-13(T)) was isolated from jeotgal, a traditional Korean fermented seafood, and studied by a polyphasic taxonomic approach. This organism was related to the phylogenetic clade comprising members of Bacillus rRNA group 2 and formed a cluster with Bacillus marinus with a bootstrap fidelity value of 93.6%. The peptidoglycan type was A1alpha linked directly through L-Lys. Based on cell morphology, peptidoglycan type and phylogeny, strain YKJ-13(T), together with B. marinus, is considered to be a member of Bacillus rRNA group 2. Strain YKJ-13(T) was also characterized by having MK-7 and MK-8 as the predominant menaquinones and iso-C(15:0) as the major fatty acid. The DNA G+C content was 44 mol%. Strain YKJ-13(T) exhibited a 16S rDNA similarity value of 95.7% with B. marinus DSM 1297(T), its closest phylogenetic relative. Levels of 16S rDNA similarity between strain YKJ-13(T) and other Bacillus spp. were less than 94.2%. Therefore, on the basis of the data presented, the name Jeotgalibacillus alimentarius gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed for strain YKJ-13(T) (=KCCM 80002(T)=JCM 10872(T)). It is also proposed that B. marinus be reclassified in Marinibacillus gen. nov. as Marinibacillus marinus comb. nov.