Strain B538 T is a Gram-positive, motile, rod-shaped bacterium, which was isolated from Xinjiang province in China. This organism grew optimally at 30-35 6C and pH 8?0-8?5. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain B538 T belonged to the genus Paenibacillus and chemotaxonomic data (DNA G+C content, 47?0 mol%; major isoprenoid quinone, MK-7; cell wall type, A1c meso-diaminopimelic acid; major fatty acids, anteiso-C 15 : 0 and C 16 : 0 ) supported affiliation of the isolate with the genus Paenibacillus. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses showed that the isolate was most closely related to Paenibacillus glycanilyticus DS-1 T , with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 98?1 %; sequence similarities to other members of the genus Paenibacillus used in the phylogenetic tree were less than 96?5 %. The DNA-DNA relatedness between strain B538 T and P. glycanilyticus DS-1 T was about 8?0 %. On the basis of physiological and molecular properties, strain B538 T (=KCTC 3952 T =DSM 16970 T ) is proposed as the type strain of a novel species within the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus xinjiangensis sp. nov. is proposed.The genus Paenibacillus was delineated from the members of group 3 Bacillus on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis by Ash et al. (1993). Since the description of the genus, quite a few species belonging to the genus Paenibacillus have been isolated from various ecological habitats including warm springs (Saha et al., 2005), rice fields (Sánchez et al., 2005), alkaline soils , petroleum-hydrocarbon-contaminated sediment (Daane et al., 2002), the surface of sterilized seeds of garden peas (Šmerda et al., 2005), Antarctic sediments (Montes et al., 2004), the rhizosphere of trees (Rivas et al., 2005c) and air (Rivas et al., 2005a). These species also differ physiologically and produce diverse degradation enzymes (Rivas et al., 2005b;Takeda et al., 2005;Shida et al., 1997). These findings suggest that the members of the genus Paenibacillus may have important roles in environmental habitats. In this report, the taxonomic characterization is described of a novel aerobic, mesophilic, Gram-positive Paenibacillus species, which produces a spherical terminal endospore in a swollen sporangium. Strain B538 T was isolated from alkaline soil (pH 9?0, 1000 m above sea-level) collected in northern China (Heshuo area of Xinjiang province) by the serial dilution plating method with R2A agar (Difco) medium at 35 uC for 3 days. The isolate was routinely grown aerobically on TSB (tryptic soy broth; Difco) agar for 2 days at 32 uC, except where indicated otherwise. Gram staining was performed using the bioMérieux Gram Stain kit according to the manufacturer's instructions. Cell morphology was studied using TEM (JEM-1010; JEOL) as described by Jeon et al. (2005a). Motility was observed at 12 and 36 h with a light microscope (Nikon E600) according to a method described previously (Jeon et al., 2005b). Endospores were stained according to the method of Schaeffer-Fulto...