Paenibacillus kimchicus sp . nov., an antimicrobial bacterium isolated from Kimchi

An antimicrobial bacterium to pathogenic microorganisms, strain W5-1 T was isolated from Korean fermented-food Kimchi. The isolate was Gram-staining-variable, strictly aerobic, rod-shaped, endospore-forming, and motile with peritrichous flagella. It grew at 15－40°C, at pH 6.0－10.0, and in the presence of 0–4% NaCl. Strain W5-1 T could hydrolyze esculin and xylan, and assimilate D-mannose, but not D-mannitol. Strain W5-1 T showed antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella typhi. The G+C content of the DNA of strains W5-1 T was 52.6 mol%. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7) and the major cellular fatty acids were C 16:0 , antieiso-C 15:0 , C 18:0 , and C 12:0 . The strain contained meso-diaminopimelic acid in cell-wall peptidoglycan. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence and phylogenetic analysis, the strain W5-1 was shown to belong to the family Paenibacillaceae and was most closely related to Paenibacillus pinihumi S23 T (98.4% similarity) and Paenibacillus tarimensis SA-7-6 T (96.4%). The DNA-DNA relatedness between the isolate and Paenibacillus pinihumi S23 T was 8.5%, indicating that strain W5-1 T represented a species in the genus Paenibacillus. On the basis of the evidence from this polyphasic study, it is proposed that strain W5-1 T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus kimchicus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is W5-1 T (=KACC 15046 T = LMG 25970 T ).