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Title: BACILLUS MORTIVALLIS SP. NOV., A CLOSE RELATIVE OF BACILLUS SUBTILIS ISOLATED FROM SOIL IN DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

Author
item ROBERTS, MICHAEL - RIKEN INSTITUTE, JAPAN
item Nakamura, Lawrence
item COHAN, FREDERICK - WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The species Bacillus subtilis is used industrially for the production of useful enzymes that degrade starch and proteins. Recent observations have shown that a number of isolates cannot be distinguished from B. subtilis by biochemical tests. These isolates have been shown to be distinct on the basis of DNA and fatty acid comparisons and have been proposed as members of a new species named Bacillus mortivallis.

Technical Abstract: Five Bacillus strains isolated from Death Valley soil were shown to belong to a previously unidentified species, for which we propose the name Bacillus mortivallis. The type strain is DV1-F-3 (=NRRL B-14890). On the basis of restriction digest data, B. mortivallis is most closely related to Bacillus subtilis. As yet, B. mortivallis can be distinguished from B. subtilis only by differences in whole-cell fatty acid composition, divergence in DNA sequence, and resistance to genetic transformation between taxa (in addition to reduced genome relatedness values).