Bacillus thiaminolyticus sp. nov., nom. rev.

The name "Bacillus thiaminolyticus" Kuno 1951 was not included on the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names and has lost standing in bacteriological nomenclature. The genetic homogeneity of "Bacillus thiaminolyticus" was assessed by determining guanine-plus-cytosine contents by the buoyant density method and by measuring DNA relatedness by using spectrophotometric reassociation procedures. Of the 26 strains which I studied, 24 had guanine-plus-cytosine contents in the range from 52 to 54 mol%. The consistently high DNA relatedness values of 60 to 100% of these 24 strains to the type strain indicated that the "B. thiaminolyticus" group is genetically homogeneous. Low DNA relatedness values of 20 to 31% showed that "B. thiaminolyticus" is genetically unrelated to Bacillus alvei, "Bacillus aneurinolyticus," "Bacillus apiarius," Bacillus larvae, Bacillus laterosporus, Bacillus macerans, and Bacillus stearothermophilus. In general, the "B. thiaminolyticus" group was highly homogeneous for 49 phenotypic characteristics and clearly distinguishable from B. alvei, with which it was allegedly synonymous. On the basis of these findings, revival of the name Bacillus thiaminolyticus is proposed.