Terribacillus saccharophilus gen. nov., sp. nov. and Terribacillus halophilus sp. nov., spore-forming bacteria isolated from field soil in Japan.

Three strains, 002-048(T), RB589 and 002-051(T), isolated from field soil in Japan, were characterized using a polyphasic approach. The isolates were Gram-positive, strictly aerobic, non-motile rods that formed ellipsoidal, subterminal endospores. The chemotaxonomic characteristics of these isolates included the presence of meso-diaminopimelic acid as the cell-wall peptidoglycan, anteiso-C(15 : 0) and anteiso-C(17 : 0) as the major cellular fatty acids and MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone. The DNA G+C content was 44-46 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the isolates represented an independent lineage that is distinct from related taxa and exhibited less than 94.3 % sequence similarity with respect to those taxa. Moreover, a DNA-DNA hybridization analysis showed that the three isolates represented two species. On the basis of their phenotypic and phylogenetic distinctiveness, the isolates represent two species within a novel genus, for which the names Terribacillus saccharophilus gen. nov., sp. nov. and Terribacillus halophilus sp. nov. are proposed. The type strain of T. saccharophilus is 002-048(T) (=IAM 15309(T)=KCTC 13936(T)) and the type strain of T. halophilus is 002-051(T) (=IAM 15310(T)=KCTC 13937(T)).