Bacillus novalis sp. nov., Bacillus vireti sp. nov., Bacillus soli sp. nov., Bacillus bataviensis sp. nov. and Bacillus drentensis sp. nov., from the Drentse A grasslands

Abstract

A group of 42 isolates were isolated from the soil of several disused hay fields, in the Drentse A agricultural research area (The Netherlands), that were taken out of production at different times. The group represents hitherto-uncultured Bacillus lineages that have previously been found, by a non-cultural method, to be predominant in soil. The strains were subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study, including (GTG)₅-PCR, 16S rDNA sequence analysis, DNA–DNA hybridizations, DNA base-ratio determination, fatty acid analysis and morphological and biochemical characterization. By comparing the groupings obtained by (GTG)₅-PCR and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, six clusters of similar strains could be recognized. A DNA–DNA relatedness study showed that these clusters represented five novel genospecies. Further analysis supported the proposal of five novel species in the genus Bacillus, namely Bacillus novalis sp. nov. (type strain IDA3307^T=R-15439^T=LMG 21837^T=DSM 15603^T), Bacillus vireti sp. nov. (type strain IDA3632^T=R-15447^T=LMG 21834^T=DSM 15602^T), Bacillus soli sp. nov. (type strain IDA0086^T=R-16300^T=LMG 21838^T=DSM 15604^T), Bacillus bataviensis sp. nov. (type strain IDA1115^T=R-16315^T=LMG 21833^T=DSM 15601^T) and Bacillus drentensis sp. nov. (type strain IDA1967^T=R-16337^T=LMG 21831^T=DSM 15600^T).