Transfer of Bacillus halodenitrificans Denariaz et al. 1989 to the genus Virgibacillus as Virgibacillus halodenitrificans comb. nov.

A Gram-variable, endospore-forming moderately halophilic rod, strain SF-121, was isolated from a marine solar saltern of the Yellow Sea in Korea. The result of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain SF-121 has highest sequence similarity (99.7 %) with the type strain of Bacillus halodenitrificans. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that B. halodenitrificans DSM 10037(T) and strain SF-121 are more closely related to the genus Virgibacillus than to the genus Bacillus. Strain SF-121 and B. halodenitrificans DSM 10037(T) exhibited 16S rRNA gene similarity levels of 95.3-97.5 % with the type strains of Virgibacillus species and 94.0 % with the type strain of Bacillus subtilis. DNA-DNA relatedness and phenotypic data indicated that B. halodenitrificans DSM 10037(T) and strain SF-121 are members of the same species. B. halodenitrificans DSM 10037(T) and strain SF-121 exhibited DNA-DNA relatedness values of 9-11 % with the type strains of Virgibacillus carmonensis and Virgibacillus marismortui. On the basis of the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, phylogenetic and genetic data, B. halodenitrificans should be reclassified in the genus Virgibacillus as Virgibacillus halodenitrificans comb. nov.