Paenibacillus plantiphilus sp. nov. from the plant environment of Zea mays

Abstract

A Gram-strain positive, aerobic, endospore-forming bacterial strain (JJ-246^T) was isolated from the rhizosphere of Zea mays. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity comparisons showed a most closely relationship to Paenibacillus oenotherae DT7-4^T (98.4%) and Paenibacillus xanthinolyticus 11N27^T (98.0%). The pairwise average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridisation values of the JJ-246^T genome assembly against publicly available Paenibacillus type strain genomes were below 82% and 33%, respectively. The draft genome of JJ-246^T shared many putative plant-beneficial functions contributing (PBFC) genes, related to plant root colonisation, oxidative stress protection, degradation of aromatic compounds, plant growth-promoting traits, disease resistance, drug and heavy metal resistance, and nutrient acquisition. The quinone system of strain JJ-246^T, the polar lipid profile and the major fatty acids were congruent with those reported for members of the genus Paenibacillus. JJ-246^T was shown to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus plantiphilus sp. nov. is proposed, with JJ-246^T (= LMG 32093^T = CCM 9089^T = CIP 111893^T) as the type strain.

Keywords: Endophyte; Paenibacillus plantiphilus; Plant associated; Taxonomy; Zea mays.

Fig. 1

Whole-genome-based tree showing the phylogenetic placement of strain JJ-246^T among type strains of closely related Paenibacillus species. This minimum evolution tree was inferred using JolyTree (https://gitlab.pasteur.fr/GIPhy/JolyTree). Two publicly available Cohnella type strain genomes were used as outgroup. The genome sequence accession is specified between parentheses next after each taxon name. Branch supports were assessed by the rate of elementary quartets, as estimated by JolyTree (only supports > 0.5 were specified). Bar, 0.025 nucleotide substitutions per site