K. Kuroshima et al., BACILLUS-EHIMENSIS SP-NOV AND BACILLUS-CHITINOLYTICUS SP-NOV, NEW CHITINOLYTIC MEMBERS OF THE GENUS BACILLUS, International journal of systematic bacteriology, 46(1), 1996, pp. 76-80
Five chitin-degrading bacteria were isolated from soil. These organism
s were strictly aerobic and rod shaped, formed spores, contained menaq
uinone 7 as the major isoprenoid quinone and 12-methyltetradecanoic ac
id as the major cellular fatty acid, and had guanine-plus cytosine con
tents of 51.3 to 54.9 mol%, characteristics which indicate that they b
elong to the genus Bacillus. These five strains were divided into two
groups on the basis of physiological characteristics and the results o
f a DNA-DNA hybridization study. As low levels of DNA relatedness were
found between our isolates and previously described Bacillus strains,
we propose that our isolates should be classified in two new Bacillus
species, Bacillus ehimensis and Bacillus chitinolyticus. The type str
ains of B. ehimensis and B. chitinolyticus are strains IFO 15659 and I
FO 15660, respectively.