Paenibacillus motobuensis sp. nov., isolated from a composting machine utilizing soil from Motobu-town, Okinawa, Japan

A novel bacterial strain, MC10^T, was isolated from a compost sample produced in a composting machine utilizing soil from Motobu-town, Okinawa, Japan. The isolate was Gram-negative, but produced endospores. These conflicting characters prompted a taxonomic study of the isolate. The isolate was examined using a combination of phenotypic characterization, cellular fatty acid analysis, DNA base composition determination and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Phylogenetic analysis, based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, placed strain MC10^T within the genus Paenibacillus. As in other Paenibacillus species, the isolate contained anteiso-C_{15 : 0} as the major fatty acid and the DNA G+C content was 47·0 mol%. However, 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of less than 95·6 % were found between this isolate and all members of the genus Paenibacillus. Based upon these results, strain MC10^T (=GTC 1835^T=JCM 12774^T=CCUG 50090^T) should be designated as the type strain of a novel species within the genus Paenibacillus, Paenibacillus motobuensis sp. nov.