Bacillus sonorensis sp. nov., a close relative of Bacillus licheniformis, isolated from soil in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona.

Eight Bacillus strains isolated from Sonoran Desert soil were shown to belong to a previously unidentified species, for which the name Bacillus sonorensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is strain L87-10T (= NRRL B-23154T). On the basis of phenotypic and genetic data, B. sonorensis is most closely related to Bacillus licheniformis. B. sonorensis can be distinguished from B. licheniformis by salt tolerance, pigmentation, multilocus enzyme electrophoresis, reassociation of genomic DNA and sequence differences in protein-coding genes and 16S rRNA.