Isolation Of A Potential New Member Of The Bacillus cereus Group From Snow Covered Soil

C1 is an endospore forming gram-positive rod isolated from snow-covered soil in Massachusetts. Colonies were white and feathery in appearance and grew after 22 hours. The isolate was motile with ellipsoidal spores that are subterminal. The strain grew best at temperatures between 5-25˚ C with a pH range between 5–7 and NaCl concentration 1% (w/v). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that C1 belonged to the genus Bacillus, and the Bacillus cereus group. C1 was closest to Bacillus cereus with 40% alignments and 0.69% to Bacillus thuringiensis. The cellular fatty acid profiles were closest to Bacillus mycoides with the iso-C15 making 21.25% of the total cellular membrane fatty acids. On the basis of phenotypic and molecular data, the strain C1 represents a novel species within the Bacillus cereus group. A culture deposit was made to the Biodefense and Emerging Infections Research Resources Repository (BEI Resources) with the BEI code (NR-4056).