AUTHOR=Rodríguez Miguel , Reina José Carlos , Sampedro Inmaculada , Llamas Inmaculada , Martínez-Checa Fernando 

TITLE=Peribacillus castrilensis sp. nov.: A Plant-Growth-Promoting and Biocontrol Species Isolated From a River Otter in Castril, Granada, Southern Spain

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.896728

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.896728

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>A strictly aerobic, chemoheterotrophic, endospore-forming, Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterial strain N3<sup>T</sup> was isolated from the feces of a river otter in Castril (Granada, southern Spain). It is halotolerant, motile, and catalase-, oxidase-, ACC deaminase-, and C4- and C8-lipase-positive. It promotes tomato plant growth and can reduce virulence in <italic>Erwinia amylovora</italic> CECT 222<sup>T</sup> and <italic>Dickeya solani</italic> LMG 25993<sup>T</sup> through interference in their quorum-sensing systems, although other antagonistic mechanisms could also occur. A phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence as well as the phenotypic and phylogenomic analyses indicated that the strain N3<sup>T</sup> is a novel species of the genus <italic>Peribacillus</italic>, with the highest 16S rRNA sequence similar to that of <italic>Bacillus frigoritolerans</italic> DSM 8801<sup>T</sup> (99.93%) and <italic>Peribacillus simplex</italic> DSM 1321<sup>T</sup> (99.80%). Genomic digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) between the strain N3<sup>T</sup> and <italic>Bacillus frigoritolerans</italic> DSM 8801<sup>T</sup> and <italic>Peribacillus simplex</italic> was 12.8 and 69.1%, respectively, and the average nucleotide identity (ANIb) of strain N3<sup>T</sup> and <italic>Bacillus frigoritolerans</italic> DSM 8801<sup>T</sup> and <italic>Peribacillus simplex</italic> was 67.84 and 93.21%, respectively. The genomic G + C content was 40.3 mol%. Its main cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C<sub>15:0</sub> and iso-C<sub>15:0</sub>. Using 16S rRNA phylogenetic and <italic>in silico</italic> phylogenomic analyses, together with the chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data, we demonstrated that the type strain N3<sup>T</sup> (=CECT 30509<sup>T</sup> = LMG 32505<sup>T</sup>) is a novel species of the genus <italic>Peribacillus</italic> and the name <italic>Peribacillus castrilensis</italic> sp. nov. is proposed.</p>