Abstract:In this study, soil samples were collected from cropland, starch plant and sewerage respectively. An isolate named S3 was identified as Paenibacillus genus on the basis of physiological and biochemical characterization,16S rDNA sequencing, whole-cell fatty acid composition analysis and DNA-DNA hybridization. According to the phylogenetic tree constructed by 16S rDNA sequence, the phylogenetic distances of Paenibacillus like strains close to S3 were P. curdlanolyticus, P. kobensis and Paenibacillus sp. PALXIL08. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization showed that the homology of S3 and the three strains was 37.8%, 21.7% and 29.4%, respectively. Thus isolate S3 may represent a novel species of Paenibacillus.