Brevibacterium renqingii sp. nov., isolated from the Daqu of Baijiu.

Two bacterial strains, designated REN4 and REN4-1, were isolated from daqu sample collected from baijiu factory located in Shanxi, China. The two strains shared highly similar 16S rRNA gene sequences (99.67% identities) and formed a monophyletic clade within the Brevibacterium 16S rRNA gene tree, showing 97.56-97.85% 16S rRNA gene sequence identities with type strains Brevibacterium permense VKM Ac-2280, Brevibacterium sediminis FXJ8.269, Brevibacterium oceani BBH7 and Brevibacterium epidermidis NCIMB 702286. They contained MK-8(H) as the most predominant menaquinone, antesio-C, antesio-C, Iso-C and Iso-C as the major cellular fatty acids, DPG (diphosphatidylglycerol), PG (phosphatidylglycerol), PGL (phosphatidylglycerollipids), and PL (phospholipids) as the main polar lipids. The genomic DNA G + C content of strains REN4 and REN4-1 were 64.35, 65.82 mol%. Moreover, the low DNA-DNA relatedness values, physiological and biochemical characteristics, and taxonomic analysis allowed the differentiation of strains REN4 and REN4-1 from the other recognized species of the genus Brevibacterium. Therefore, strain REN4 represents a novel species of the genus Brevibacterium, for which the name Brevibacterium renqingii sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain REN4 (= JCM 33953 T = KCTC 49366).