Psychrobacillus soli sp. nov., capable of degrading oil, isolated from oil-contaminated soil

<jats:p>A novel, aerobic, psychrotolerant, Gram-stain-positive, endospore-forming strain, NHI-2<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>, was isolated from oil-contaminated soil near a gas station in Mongolia. This strain was characterized by motile rods and grew over a wide range of temperatures ( − 2 to 40 °C) with optimal growth at 28–30 °C. It tolerated salt concentrations of up to 7 % over a five-day incubation period. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain NHI-2<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>belongs to the genus<jats:italic>Psychrobacillus</jats:italic>. Sequence similarity between NHI-2<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>and members of the genus<jats:italic>Psychrobacillus</jats:italic>with validly published names ranged from 97.83 to 98.18 %. DNA–DNA hybridization indicated less than 70 % relatedness to reference strains within the genus. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 36 mol%. This strain contained MK-8 as a predominant isoprenoid menaquinone. NHI-2<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>had ornithine in the cell wall similar to reference strains of the genus<jats:italic>Psychrobacillus</jats:italic>. The major fatty acids present in NHI-2<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>were anteiso-C<jats:sub>15 : 0</jats:sub>(51.0 %), iso-C<jats:sub>15 : 0</jats:sub>(9.1 %) and anteiso-C<jats:sub>17 : 0</jats:sub>(8.0 %). The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol. These data highlight that the phenotype of strain NHI-2<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>differs from that of related species in terms of chemotaxonomic properties and genotype characteristics. Therefore, this strain is proposed as a representative of a novel species, named<jats:italic>Psychrobacillus soli</jats:italic>. The type strain is NHI-2<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>( = KEMB 9005-135<jats:sup>T</jats:sup> = KACC 18243<jats:sup>T</jats:sup> = NBRC 110600<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>).</jats:p>