Swionibacillus sediminis gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the family Bacillaceae isolated from ocean sediment.

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, strictly aerobic bacterium designated BW11-2T was isolated from marine sediment of the south-west Indian Ocean. Cells of BW11-2T were rod-shaped, endospore-forming, 0.3-0.5 µm wide, 1.8-2.0 µm long, catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. The isolate was capable of growing at 15-45 °C (optimum 30 °C), pH 5-9 (optimum 7) and with 0.5-10 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum 3 %). Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, BW11-2T was shown to belong to the family Bacillaceae within the phylum Firmicutes and formed a distinct lineage, showing the highest sequence similarities to closely related genera: Bacillus(93.9-94.7 %), Gracilibacillus (93.3-93.7 %), Amphibacillus (93.5 %), Virgibacillus (92.9-93.1 %) and Anaerobacillus(92.6-93.0 %). BW11-2T shared the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with the species Bacillus oleronius (94.7 %). The predominant fatty acids (>10 %) were anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0. The major quinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7). Major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and one unidentified aminolipid. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain BW11-2T was 43.3 mol%. On the basis of the morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics as well as genotypic data, strain BW11-2T represents a novel genus and species in the family Bacillaceae, for which the name Swionibacillus sediminis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. Strain BW11-2T (=CICC 24196T=JCM 31924T) is the type strain.