Fermentibacillus polygoni gen. nov., sp. nov., an alkaliphile that reduces indigo dye.

Facultatively alkaliphilic strains, designated as strains IEB3T and IEB14, were isolated as indigo-reducing strains from a fermented Polygonum indigo (Polygonum tinctorium Lour) liquor sample prepared in our laboratory using a medium containing an indigo fermentation liquor as a sole substrate. The 16S rRNA gene sequence phylogeny and similarity suggested that strains IEB3T and IEB14 exhibit distinctive positions among the members of the genus Bacillus, and their closest neighbour was Bacillus nanhaiisediminis NH3T (similarity: 97.4 %) among the species with validly published names. The 16S rRNA sequence of strain IEB3Twas identical to that of strain IEB14. The cells of the isolates stained Gram-positive and were facultatively anaerobic, straight rods that were motile by a pair of subpolar flagella. Strains IEB3T and IEB14 grew at temperatures between 12 and 40 °C with optimum growth at 30‒33 °C and in the range of pH 7.5-12. Menaquinone-7 (MK-7) was detected as the major isoprenoid quinone. The DNA G+C contents of strains IEB3T and IEB14 were 39.0 and 39.1 mol%, respectively. The whole-cell fatty acid profile mainly (>10 %) consisted of iso-C14:0, iso-C15:0 and anteiso-C15:0. DNA-DNA hybridization revealed a low relatedness value between strain IEB3T and the phylogenetically most closely related species, Bacillus nanhaiisediminis JCM 16507T (<7 % ). On the basis of phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics and phylogenetic data, the isolates represent a novel species within a novel genus, for which the name Fermentibacillus polygoni gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IEB3T (=JCM 30817T=NCIMB 14984T).