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Abstract
The taxonomy of two groups (designated as 3 and 4) of alginate-degrading Bacillus strains formerly classified as Bacillus circulans was studied. Three new group 3 and two new group 4 strains were isolated from soil and studied. High intragroup deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) relatedness values of 87 to 96% and low intergroup vlues of 27 to 36% indicated that these groups were genetically distinct taxa. Furthermore, low DNA complementarity values of 22 to 37% established that these two groups with guanine-plus-cytosine contents of 47 to 49 mol% were not closely related genetically to the type strains of recognized species with similar base contents. Low relatedness values were also measured between strains from the two groups and Bacillus pabuli, another alginate-degrading species. In general, negative reactions for growth at 50°C, for anaerobic growth, for casein hydrolysis, for nitrate reduction, and for acetylmethylcarbinol production differentiated the two groups from the named species. Growth in 0.001% lysozyme and utilization of citrate, fumarate, and succinate separated group 3 from group 4, which neither grew in lysozyme nor utilized the three organic acids. The data from the present and previous studies suggest that group 3 and 4 organisms are strains of two new species, for which are proposed the names Bacillus alginolyticus and Bacillus chondroitinus, respectively.
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