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Title: BACILLUS SONORENSIS SP. NOV., A CLOSE RELATIVE OF BACILLUS LICHENIFORMIS, ISOLATED FROM SOIL IN THE SONORAN DESERT, ARIZONA

Author
item PALMISANO, MARGARET - WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, CT
item Nakamura, Lawrence
item DUNCAN, KATHLEEN - UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
item ISTOCK, CONRAD - CORNELL UNIVERSITY
item COHAN, FREDERICK - WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, CT

Submitted to: International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/30/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Spore-forming bacteria with characteristics similar to a species named Bacillus licheniformis were isolated from the Sonoran Desert. Preliminary studies comparing the enzyme makeup of the isolates suggested that they were separate species. Further comparisons of the genetic, biochemical, and physiological traits of the isolates confirmed that the isolates were members of a distinct new species. The new species was called Bacillus sonorensis. This study showed the diversity of the B. licheniformis-group that has been a source of useful enzymes and provided information for differentiation of the closely related organisms.

Technical Abstract: Eight Bacillus strains isolated from Sonoran Desert soil were shown to belong to a previously unidentified species, for which we propose the name Bacillus sonorensis. The type strain is strain L87-10 (= NRRL B-23154). On the basis of phenotypic and genetic data, B. sonorensis is most closely related to B. licheniformis. B. sonorensis can be distinguished from B. licheniformis by salt tolerance, pigmentation, multilocus enzyme electrophoresis, reassociation of genomic DNA, and sequence differences in protein-coding genes.