Paenibacillus apis sp. nov. and Paenibacillus intestini sp. nov., isolated from the intestine of the honey bee Apis mellifera.

Three strains, CBM1T, CBH23 and LAH16T, belonging to the genus Paenibacillus were isolated from the midgut and hindgut of Apis mellifera. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses and phenotypic characteristics, the three strains represent two novel species. Strains CBM1T and CBH23 formed a group with Paenibacillus puldeungensis CAU 9324T, and strain LAH16T belonged to the Paenibacillusamylolyticus NRRL NRS-290T subgroup of the genus Paenibacillus. The DNA G+C contents of strains CBM1T, CBH23 and LAH16T were 47.7, 48.1 and 46.1 mol%, respectively. The three strains possessed diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine as polar lipids. The predominant quinone in the three strains was MK-7, but strains CBM1T and CBH23 contained an additional major quinone, MK-8(H2). While strain LAH16T and most species of the genus Paenibacillus possessed anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and C16 : 0 as major cellular fatty acids, strains CBM1T and CBH23 possessed C16 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0, C18 : 1ω7c and C19 : 0cyclo ω8c. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, strains CBM1T and CBH23 and the strain LAH16T represent novel species in the genus Paenibacillus, for which the names Paenibacillus apis sp. nov. and Paenibacillus intestini sp. nov. are proposed, with CBM1T (=KCTC 33844T=JCM 31620T) and LAH16T (=KCTC 33832T=JCM 31621T) as the type strains, respectively.