Paenibacillus spongiae sp. nov. isolated from deep-water marine sponge Theonella swinhoei

A novel bacterial strain, designated as PHS-Z3 T , was isolated from a marine sponge belonging to the genus Theonella on the Puerto Galera Deep Monkey, Philippines. Cells of PHS-Z3 T were Gram-stain-positive, motile, oxidase- and catalase-positive, white-pigmented, spore-forming, short rods that could grow at 10–40 °C (optimum, 20 °C), pH 6.0–9.5 (optimum, pH 7.5) and with 2–16 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 7 %). The 16S rRNA gene sequence of PHS-Z3 T showed 97.9 %, 96.7 %, and 96.2 % identities to Paenibacillus mendelii C/2 T , Paenibacillus oenotherae DT7-4 T and Paenibacillus aurantiacus RC11 T , respectively. The results of phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that PHS-Z3 T formed an independent cluster with Paenibacillus mendelii C/2 T . The total genome of PHS-Z3 T was approximately 7 613 364 bp in size with a DNA G+C content of 51.6 %. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between PHS-Z3 T and other type strains of species of the genus Paenibacillus were 68.0–81.4 % [ANI by blast (ANIb)], 83.0–88.0 % [ANI by MUMmer (ANIm)] and 12.7–32.1 % (dDDH). The dDDH and ANI values were below the standard cut-off criteria for delineation of bacterial species. The percentage of conserved proteins (POCP) values between the genome of PHS-Z3 T and those of members of the genus Paenibacillus were 39.7–75.7 %, while the average amino acid identity (AAI) values were 55.9–83.7 %. The sole respiratory quinone in the strain was MK-7, and the predominant fatty acids were anteiso-C 15 : 0 and C 16 : 0 . The major polar lipids of PHS-Z3 T consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phospholipid and phosphatidylglycerol. The characteristic amino acid in the cell wall of PHS-Z3 T was diamino heptanoic acid ( meso -DAP). On the basis of the molecular, physiological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic features, strain PHS-Z3 T represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus , for which the name Paenibacillus spongiae sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain PHS-Z3 T (=MCCC 1K07848 T =KCTC 43443 T ).