Traditional molecular methods have been used to examine bacterial communities in ginseng-cultivated soil samples in a time-dependent manner. Despite these efforts, our understanding of the bacterial community is still inadequate. Therefore, in this study, a high-throughput sequencing approach was employed to investigate bacterial diversity in various ginseng field soil samples over cultivation times of 2, 4, and 6 years in the first and second rounds of cultivation. We used non-cultivated soil samples to perform a comparative study. Moreover, this study assessed changes in the bacterial community associated with soil depth and the health state of the ginseng. Bacterial richness decreased through years of cultivation. This study detected differences in relative abundance of bacterial populations between the first and second rounds of cultivation, years of cultivation, and health states of ginseng. These bacterial populations were mainly distributed in the classes Acidobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Sphingobacteria. In addition, we found that pH, available phosphorus, and exchangeable Ca+ seemed to have high correlations with bacterial class in ginseng cultivated soil.

Strain DCY84 T , a Gram-stain positive, rodshaped, aerobic, spore-forming bacterium, motile by means of peritrichous flagella, was isolated from humus soil from Yongin forest in Gyeonggi province, South Korea. Strain DCY84 T shared the highest sequence similarity with Paenibacillus barengoltzii KACC 15270 T (96.86 %), followed by Paenibacillus timonensis KACC 11491 T (96.49 %) and Paenibacillus phoenicis NBRC 106274 T (95.77 %). Strain DCY84 T was found to able to grow best in TSA at temperature 30°C, at pH 8 and at 0.5 % NaCl. MK-7 menaquinone was identified as the isoprenoid quinone. The major polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified aminophospholipid, two unidentified aminolipids and an unidentified polar lipid. The peptidoglycan was found to contain the amino acids meso-diaminopimelic acid, alanine and D-glutamic acid. The major fatty acids of strain DCY84 T were identified as branched chain anteiso-C 15:0 , saturated C 16:0 and branched chain anteiso-C 17:0 . The cell wall sugars of strain DCY84 T were found to comprise of ribose, galactose and xylose. The major polyamine was identified as spermidine. The DNA G?C content was determined to be 62.6 mol%. After 6 days of incubation, strain DCY84 T produced 52.96 ± 1.85 and 72.83 ± 2.86 lg/ml L-indole-3-acetic acid, using media without L-tryptophan and supplemented with Ltryptophan, respectively. Strain DCY84 T was also found to be able to solubilize phosphate and produce siderophores. On the basis of the phenotypic characteristics, genotypic analysis and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain DCY84 T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus yonginensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DCY84 T (=KCTC 33428 T = JCM 19885 T ).

A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped bacterium, designated DCY83T , was isolated from soil of a ginseng field in Gwangju Province, Republic of Korea. Cells were motile by means of flagella. Growth occurred at 4-40 8C (optimum 30 8C), at pH 6-8 (optimum pH 7.0) and with j0.4 % NaCl. Strain DCY83 T was able to produce siderophore and was positive for phosphate solubilization. Indole-3-acetic acid production was 12.9 mg ml 21 after 3 days in culture. 16SrRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain DCY83 T belonged to the genus Duganella

The type strain DCY99(T) was isolated from soil collected from a ginseng field in Hwacheon, Republic of Korea. Strain DCY99(T) is Gram-negative, non-spore forming, motile, rod-shaped, and strictly aerobic. The bacteria grow optimally at 25-30 °C and pH 6.0-6.5. Phylogenetically, strain DCY99(T) is most closely related to Sphingomonas oligophenolica JCM 12082(T), followed by Sphingomonas asaccharolytica KCTC 2825(T), Sphingomonas mali KCTC 2826(T), Sphingomonas cynarae JCM17498(T), Sphingomonas pruni KCTC 2824(T), and Sphingomonas glacialis DSM 22294(T). The DNA-DNA relatedness between strain DCY99(T) and S. oligophenolica JCM 12082(T) was 15.6 ± 0.4 %, and the DNA G+C content of strain DCY99(T) was 64.4 mol%. An isoprenoid quinone was detected and identified as ubiquinone Q-10, and sym-homospermidine was identified as the major polyamine of DCY99(T). The major polar lipids were identified as sphingoglycolipid, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylcholine. C14:02OH, C16:0, and summed feature 8 (C18:1 ω7c:/C18:1 ω6c) were identified as the major fatty acids present in DCY99(T). The results of physiological and biochemical tests allowed strain DCY99(T) to be differentiated phenotypically from other recognized species belonging to the genus Sphingomonas. Therefore, it is suggested that the newly isolated organism represents a novel species, for which the name Sphingomonas panacis sp. nov. is proposed with the type strain designated as DCY99(T) (=JCM 30806(T) =KCTC 42347(T)).

A novel bacterial strain DCY53T was isolated from a soil sample from a ginseng field and was characterized using a polyphasic approach. Cells were Gram-reaction-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming and motile with flagella. The strain was aerobic, catalase-and oxidasepositive, optimum growth temperature and pH were 30-37 6C and 6.0-7.5, respectively. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain DCY53 T was shown to belong to the genus