Paenibacillus jilunlii sp. nov., a nitrogen-fixing species isolated from the rhizosphere of Begonia semperflorens.

A nitrogen-fixing bacterium, designated strain Be17(T), was isolated from rhizosphere soil of Begonia semperflorens planted in Beijing Botanical Garden, PR China. Phylogenetic analyses based on a segment of the nifH gene sequence and a full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain Be17(T) was a member of the genus Paenibacillus. High levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity were found between strain Be17(T) and Paenibacillus graminis RSA19(T) (97.9 %), Paenibacillus sonchi LMG 24727(T) (97.8 %), Paenibacillus riograndensis CECT 7330(T) (96.2 %) and Paenibacillus borealis DSM 13188(T) (96.1 %), respectively. Levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain Be17(T) and the type strains of other recognized members of the genus Paenibacillus were below 96.0 %. However, the DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain Be17(T) and P. graminis RSA19(T), P. sonchi LMG 24727(T) and P. riograndensis CECT 7330(T) were 47.9 %, 38.7 % and 37.5 %, respectively. The DNA G+C content of strain Be17(T) was 52.9 mol%. The major fatty acid component of strain Be17(T) was anteiso-branched C(15 : 0) (30.92 %). The major isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid. On the basis of its phenotypic characteristics, 16S rRNA gene sequences, DNA G+C content, DNA-DNA relatedness, chemotaxonomic properties and nifH gene sequence, strain Be17(T) represents a nitrogen-fixing strain of a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus jilunlii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Be17(T) ( = CGMCC 1.10239(T) = DSM 23019(T)).