Five Gram-stain-positive, motile, aerobic strains were isolated from a clean room of the Kennedy Space Center where the Phoenix spacecraft was assembled. All strains are rod-shaped, sporeforming bacteria, whose spores were resistant to UV radiation up to 1000 J m "2 . The spores were subterminally positioned and produced an external layer. A polyphasic taxonomic study including traditional biochemical tests, fatty acid analysis, cell-wall typing, lipid analyses, 16S rRNA gene sequencing and DNA-DNA hybridization studies was performed to characterize these novel strains. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and lipid analyses convincingly grouped these novel strains within the genus Bacillus as a cluster separate from already described species. The similarity of 16S rRNA gene sequences among the novel strains was .99 %, but the similarity was only about 97 % with their nearest neighbours Bacillus pocheonensis, Bacillus firmus and Bacillus bataviensis. DNA-DNA hybridization dissociation values were ,24 % to the closest related type strains. The novel strains had a G+C content 35.6±0.5 mol% and could liquefy gelatin but did not utilize or produce acids from any of the carbon substrates tested. The major fatty acids were iso-C 15 : 0 and anteiso-C 15 : 0 and the cell-wall diamino acid was meso-diaminopimelic acid. Based on phylogenetic and phenotypic results, it is concluded that these strains represent a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus horneckiae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 1P01SC T (5NRRL B-59162 T 5MTCC 9535 T ).

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Calidifontibacter indicus gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the family Dermacoccaceae isolated from a hot spring, and emended description of the family Dermacoccaceae

The taxonomic position of a Gram-positive, endo-spore forming bacterium isolated from a haematite ore sample was analyzed by a polyphasic approach. The strain designated as HIO-4(T) matched most of the phenotypic and chemical characteristics of the genus Cohnella and represents a novel species. The sequence of the almost complete 16S rRNA (1489 bases) was compared with those of previously studied Cohnella type strains and confirmed that the strain belongs to the genus Cohnella. Strain HIO-4(T) differs from all other species of Cohnella by at least 3.9% at the 16S rRNA level and the moderately related species are Cohnella phaseoli (96.1%) and Cohnella yongneupensis (96.1%), respectively. Predominant polar lipids are diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE); few unknown phospholipids, mannose containing lipid, aminophospholipid and aminophosphoglycolipids. The results of physiological and biochemical tests allowed the genotypic and phenotypic distinctiveness of strain HIO-4(T) with its phylogenetic relatives and suggest that the strain HIO-4(T) should be recognized as a novel species, for which the name Cohnella ferri sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HIO-4(T) (=MTCC 8365(T) = JCM 16139(T)).

Cultivation based and culture independent molecular approaches were used to characterize the composition and structure of bacterial community from a natural warm spring in the Western Ghats, a biodiversity 'hotspot'. Dilution plating was done on three types of media with varying nutrient levels. Relatively nutritionally poor medium supported growth of highest number of bacteria (4.98 × 10(3) ml(-1)) compared to nutritionally rich media. On the basis of different morphological features on the plate, 62 aerobic and heterotrophic bacterial strains were isolated and their 16S rRNA genes were sequenced and analyzed. On the basis of sequence similarity these isolates were found to be distributed in 21 different genera belonging to Proteobacteria (58%) followed by Firmicutes (26%), Actinobacteria (13%) and Bacteroidetes (3%). Amplification of 16S rRNA gene of the community DNA using eubacterial primers, followed by cloning and sequencing revealed that predominant members of the habitat belong to the phylum Cyanobacteria (60%) followed by Proteobacteria (19.5%), Bacteroidetes (6.67%), Actinobacteria (4.4%) and Firmicutes (2.2%) and small ribosomal subunit of a plastid (of Chlorophyta, 2.2%).