During a search for exo-enzyme-producing bacteria in the gut of an insect, Diestrammena apicalis, a novel bacterium capable of degrading pectin was isolated. The isolate, designated strain RCB-08 T , comprised Gram-positive, endospore-forming, motile rods capable of growth at 15-30 6C and pH 6.0-8.7. The DNA G+C content of the isolate was 51.5 mol% and the predominant cellular fatty acid was anteiso-C 15 : 0 (74.1 %). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain

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... 08 T was affiliated with a cluster within the Paenibacillaceae, and was related most closely to Paenibacillus chondroitinus NBRC 15376 T , with a sequence similarity of 96.7 %. The DNA-DNA relatedness value for strain RCB-08 T with P. chondroitinus NBRC 15376 T was 15.0 %. Strain RCB-08 T hydrolysed pectin, but not cellulose, casein, starch or xylan. Strain RCB-08 T could be clearly distinguished from other Paenibacillus species on the basis of characteristics observed using a polyphasic approach. Therefore strain RCB-08 T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus pectinilyticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is RCB-08 T (5KCTC 13222 T 5CECT 7358 T ). The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain RCB-08 T is EU391157. Transmission electron micrographs of cells of strain RCB-08 T and a maximum-likelihood tree and an extended neighbour-joining tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences are available as supplementary material with the online version of this paper.