Paenibacillus silvae sp nov., isolated from a tropical rainforest soil

Two Gram-stain-positive, facultatively aerobic, endospore-forming and rod-shaped bacteria, designated DB13031(T) and DB13311, were isolated from the soil of the Jiaxi Nature Reserve in Hainan, PR China. 16S rRNA gene analysis of strains DB13031(T) and DB13311 showed that they fell within the Paenibacillus cluster, with highest similarities to Paenibacillus cucumis AP-115(T) (98.4 and 98.3 %, respectively), Paenibacillus barcinonensis BP-23(T) (98.3 and 98.2 %, respectively) and Paenibacillus oceanisediminis L10(T) (97.7 and 97.7 %, respectively). The DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain DB13031(T) and the type strains of its closest related species were 48.2, 38.1 and 43.5 %. Strain DB13031(T) contained menaquinone-7 (MK-7) as the predominant isoprenoid quinone and anteiso-C-15 : 0, iso-C-16 : 0 and C16 : 0 as the major cellular fatty acids. The cell-wall peptidoglycan was of the A1 gamma type and the major polar lipid profiles were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, four unknown aminophospholipids and four unknown phospholipids. Based on the phenotypic and genotypic data, it is proposed that the two isolates represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus silvae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DB13031(T) (= CGMCC 1.12770(T) = DSM 28013(T)).