A Gram-stain-negative, coccus-shaped, aerobic bacterium, strain E6 T , was isolated from soil. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed a cluster containing strain E6 T and Paracoccus sediminis CMB17 T (the highest 16S rRNA gene similarity of 97.2 %). The other strains investigated showed 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of less than 97 % to strain E6 T . The DNA-DNA relatedness between strain E6 T and P. sediminis DSM 26170 T was 59.2 %. Strain E6 T also shows some differences compared with other Paracoccus strains such as motility and inability to utilize lactate and propionate as sole carbon sources. The major fatty acids of strain E6 T were C 18 : 1 v7c and C 18 : 0 and ubiquinone-10 was the only respiratory quinone. Strain E6 T had diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, an unknown aminolipid and an unknown glycolipid as major polar lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content was 68.1 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain E6 T is concluded to represent a novel species of the genus Paracoccus, for which the name Paracoccus angustae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is E6 T (5KCTC 42473 T 5CCTCC AB 2015056 T ).The genus Paracoccus belongs to the family Rhodobacteraceae of the order Rhodobacterales in Proteobacteria. The genus Paracoccus comprises, at the time of writing, 40 recognized species and was first proposed by Davis et al. (1969) with Paracoccus denitrificans as the type species. Members of this genus have been isolated from various environments including soil (Dastager et al., 2011), bioreactor (La et al., 2005, sediment (Pan et al., 2014) and activated sludge (Lee & Lee, 2013;Sun et al., 2013). Members of the genus Paracoccus are Gram-stain-negative, are positive for oxidase and catalase, and have a high metabolic versatility, C 18 : 1 v7c as the major fatty acid and ubiquinone-10 (Q-10) as the predominant respiratory quinone (Dastager et al., 2011;Sheu et al., 2011). In addition, members of the genus have high DNA G+C contents and have phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine as major polar lipids (Liu et al., 2008;Roh et al., 2009;Fu et al., 2011;Sheu et al., 2011; Kämpfer et al., 2012;Lee & Lee, 2013;Liu et al., 2013;Sun et al., 2013;Zhu et al., 2013;Pan et al., 2014;Zhang et al., 2014). Some strains can accumulate poly-b-hydroxybutyrate granules (Berry et al., 2003;Sheu et al., 2011;Lee & Lee, 2013;Pan et al., 2014). Strain E6 T was isolated from soil collected from Grand Canyon of Enshi City (1098 189 E 308 249 N, altitude about 1200 m), Hubei Province, China. The soil sample was serially diluted with 0.85 % (w/v) NaCl and incubated on 1/10 trypticase soy agar (TSA; Bacto) and incubated at 28 8C for 7 days. The purity of the colonies was checked by repeated streaking of single colonies on 1/10 TSA medium. The strain was preserved at 280 8C with 25 % (v/v) glycerol. The most closely related type strain, P. sediminis DSM 26170 T , and that of the type species of the genus, Paracoccus denitrificans DSM 413 T , were used as reference st...

A Gram-stain-positive, spore-forming, motile, strictly aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain L5 T , was isolated from soil of Tenglong cave, China. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain L5 T was related most closely to Bacillus asahii MA001 T (96.5 %) (the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Bacillus kribbensis BT080 T (96.4 %) and Bacillus deserti ZLD-8 T (96.2 %). The DNA G+C content of strain L5 T was 45.6 mol%. The major menaquinone was MK-7. The major fatty acids were iso-C 14 : 0 , anteiso-C 15 : 0 and iso-C 16 : 0 , and the major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The diagnostic diamino acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan was meso-diaminopimelic acid. In addition, strain L5 T had different characteristics compared with the other Bacillus strains such as pink colony colour, low growth temperature and low nutrient requirement. The results indicate that strain L5 T represents a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus cavernae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is L5 T (5KCTC 33637 T 5CCTCC AB 2015055 T ).

A Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile, yellow, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain E62-3 T , was isolated from soil of Enshi Grand Canyon, Hubei province, PR China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain E62-3 T was most closely related to Sphingomonas laterariae LNB2 T . Strain E62-3 T exhibited the highest 16SrRNA gene sequence similarity to Sphingosinicella vermicomposti YC7378 T (96.0 %), Sphingobium xanthum NL9 T (95.8 %), Sphingobium boeckii 469 T (95.7 %) and Sphingomonas laterariae LNB2 T (95.5 %) within the family Sphingomonadaceae. The major fatty acids (>5 %) of strain E62-3 T were C 18 : 1 !7c, summed feature 3 (C 16 : 1 !7c and/or iso-C 15 : 0 2-OH), C 16 : 0 and C 14 : 0 2-OH. The predominant respiratory quinone and polyamine were ubiquinone Q-10 and homospermidine, respectively. The predominant polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine. The genomic DNA G +C content was 66.4 mol%. The genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data revealed that the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas faucium sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is E62-3 T (=KCTC 42834 T =CCTCC AB 2015300 T ).