Ureibacillus gen. nov., a new genus to accommodate Bacillus thermosphaericus (Andersson et al. 1995), emendation of Ureibacillus thermosphaericus anddescription of Ureibacillus terrenus sp nov.

A polyphasic taxonomic study was performed on the type strain of Bacillus t hermosphaericus DSM 10633(T) and three related soil isolates. On the basis of phenotypic characteristics, chemotaxonomic profiles and phylogenetic dat a a new genus, Ureibacillus gen, nov., is proposed for the strains in the B acillus thermosphaericus cluster. Strains of this cluster fall into two DNA -DNA similarity groups: while one group contains the type strain of Ureibac illus thermosphaericus comb. nov. and a single soil isolate, the other cont ains two soil isolates. The two groups differed in the composition of isopr enoid quinones and some phenotypic properties. These data support the descr iption of a novel species of Ureibacillus for which the name Ureibacillus t errenus is proposed. The type strain of this new species is TH9A(T) (= DSM 12654(T) = LMG 19470(T)).