Molecular characterization of Paenibacillus antarcticus IPAC21, a bioemulsifier producer isolated from Antarctic soil.

Paenibacillus antarcticus IPAC21, an endospore-forming and bioemulsifier-producing strain, was isolated from King George Island, Antarctica. As psychrotolerant/psychrophilic bacteria can be considered promising sources for novel products such as bioactive compounds and other industrially relevant substances/compounds, the IPAC21 genome was sequenced using Illumina Hi-seq, and a search for genes related to the production of bioemulsifiers and other metabolic pathways was performed. The IPAC21 strain has a genome of 5,505,124 bp and a G + C content of 40.5%. Genes related to the biosynthesis of exopolysaccharides, such as the gene that encodes the extracellular enzyme levansucrase responsible for the synthesis of levan, the 2,3-butanediol pathway, PTS sugar transporters, cold-shock proteins, and chaperones were found in its genome. IPAC21 cell-free supernatants obtained after cell growth in trypticase soy broth at different temperatures were evaluated for bioemulsifier production by the emulsification index (EI) using hexadecane, kerosene and diesel. EI values higher than 50% were obtained using the three oil derivatives when IPAC21 was grown at 28°C. The bioemulsifier produced by P. antarcticus IPAC21 was stable at different NaCl concentrations, low temperatures and pH values, suggesting its potential use in lower and moderate temperature processes in the petroleum industry.

Paenibacillus piscarius sp. nov., a novel nitrogen-fixing species isolated from the gut of the armored catfish Parotocinclus maculicauda.

A Gram-positive, nitrogen-fixing and endospore-forming strain, designated P121T, was isolated from the gut of the armored catfish (Parotocinclus maculicauda) and identified as a member of the genus Paenibacillus based on the sequences of the 16S rRNA encoding gene, rpoB, gyrB and nifH genes and phenotypic analyses. The most closely related species to strain P121T were Paenibacillus rhizoplanae DSM 103993T, Paenibacillus silagei DSM 101953T and Paenibacillus borealis DSM 13188T, with similarity values of 98.9, 98.3 and 97.6%, respectively, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Genome sequencing revealed a genome size of 7,513,698 bp, DNA G + C content of 53.9 mol% and the presence of the structural nitrogenase encoding genes (nifK, nifD and nifH) and of other nif genes necessary for nitrogen fixation. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) experiments and average nucleotide identity (ANI) analyses between strain P121T and the type strains of the closest species demonstrated that the highest values were below the thresholds of 70% dDDH (42.3% with P. borealis) and 95% ANI (84.28% with P. silagei) for bacterial species delineation, indicating that strain P121T represents a distinct species. Its major cellular fatty acid was anteiso-C15:0 (42.4%), and the major isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. Based on physiological, genomic, biochemical and chemotaxonomic characteristics, we propose that strain P121T represents a novel species for which the name Paenibacillus piscarius sp. nov. is proposed (type strain = DSM 25072 = LFB-Fiocruz 1636).