A POLYPHASIC REASSESSMENT OF THE GENUS PAENIBACILLUS, RECLASSIFICATION OF BACILLUS-LAUTUS (NAKAMURA 1984) AS PAENIBACILLUS-LAUTUS COMB-NOV AND OF BACILLUS-PEORIAE (MONTEFUSCO ET-AL 1993) AS PAENIBACILLUS-PEORIAE COMB-NOV, AND EMENDED DESCRIPTIONS OF PAENIBACILLUS-LAUTUS AND OF PAENIBACILLUS-PEORIAE

Seventy-seven strains representing 10 species in the Paenibacillus pol ymyxa 16S rRNA group and 3 other species that exhibit phenetic related ness to members of this group, Bacillus lautus, ''Bacillus longisporus ,'' and Bacillus peoriae, were characterized genotypically and phenoty pically by performing an amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis, a randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis, a fatty acid methyl es ter analysis, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresi s of whole-cell proteins, pyrolysis mass spectrometry, and API and oth er routine phenotypic tests. These analyses revealed distinct clusters representing Paenibacillus alvei, Paenibacillus amylolyticus, Paeniba cillus azotofixans, Paenibacillus durum, Paenibacillus larvae subsp. l arvae, Paenibacillus larvae subsp, pulvifaciens, B. lautus, Paenibacil lus macerans, Paenibacillus macquariensis, B. peoriae, P. polymyxa, an d Paenibacillus validus, which confirmed the distinctness of these spe cies, but appreciable within-species heterogeneity was observed in P. alvei, B. lautus, P. macerans, P. polymyxa, and P. validus . The type strain of Paenibacillus pabuli did not cluster with other strains of t his species, and in several analyses a relationship between strains of P. pabuli and ''B. longisporus'' was observed, as the analyses showed that B. lautus and B. peoriae are closely related to the genus Paenib acillus, these species are reclassified as members of this genus.