Virgibacillus byunsanensis sp. nov., isolated from a marine solar saltern.

A Gram-variable, motile, endospore-forming and rod-shaped bacterial strain, ISL-24(T), was isolated from a marine solar saltern of the Yellow Sea, Korea, and its taxonomic position was investigated by a polyphasic study. Strain ISL-24(T) grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0, at 30-37 degrees C and in the presence of 8 % (w/v) NaCl. It contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone and anteiso-C(15 : 0) as the predominant fatty acid. The DNA G+C content was 37.6 mol%. A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain ISL-24(T) fell within the genus Virgibacillus, clustering with Virgibacillus carmonensis LMG 20964(T) and Virgibacillus necropolis LMG 19488(T), with a bootstrap resampling value of 92.3 %, and exhibiting 97.3 and 97.4 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively, to these strains. Strain ISL-24(T) exhibited 94.8-96.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the type strains of the other Virgibacillus species. Mean DNA-DNA relatedness values between strain ISL-24(T) and V. carmonensis DSM 14868(T) and V. necropolis DSM 14866(T) were 11 and 19 %, respectively. Differential phenotypic properties of strain ISL-24(T), together with the phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that this strain is different from recognized Virgibacillus species. On the basis of phenotypic, phylogenetic and genetic data, strain ISL-24(T) represents a novel species of the genus Virgibacillus, for which the name Virgibacillus byunsanensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ISL-24(T) (=KCTC 13259(T) =CCUG 56754(T)).