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Direct: (202) 828-8956 

Fax: (202) 872-0745 

E-Mail: bmilesont@TSGUSA.com 

Beth E. Mileson, Ph.D., DABT 

Senior Managing Toxicologist 

Becker Underwood, Inc.

801 Dayton Avenue

Ames, IA 50010

             

 June 6, 2012   

 

    Identification, Distribution and Natural Populations of Bacillus pumilus

Bacillus pumilus strain BU F‐33 is a new active ingredient proposed by Becker‐Underwood for

use in agriculture for preventative control and suppression of plant root pathogens (e.g.,

Rhizoctonia spp. and Fusarium spp.) and/or to increase the amount of nodulation by nitrogen‐

fixing bacteria by legumes. Bacillus pumilus is a Gram‐positive endospore‐forming bacterium

that is common in the environment around the world.  B. pumilus bacteria are found in all types

of soil, and have been identified in a variety of coastal and aquatic environments as well.  The

use of this proposed new active ingredient is not expected to increase the levels of B. pumilus in

the environment because B. pumilus is ubiquitous in nature  and has been identified and

isolated from samples of a variety of media including, soil, water, aquatic invertebrates and

growing plants.

B. pumilus bacteria are ubiquitous in soil in the United States (US) and around the world, and

occur naturally in all types of agricultural soil.  The wide distribution of B. pumilus in a variety of

soil types is reflected in the examples from the literature presented here.   B. pumilus was

identified and isolated from rhizosphere samples collected from field‐grown spring wheat,

winter wheat, and barley (Juhnke et al., 1987).  These rhizosphere samples were collected on

an agronomy farm near Bozeman, Montana where the soil type is described as Bozeman silt

loam.   In a separate study, B. pumilus was isolated from soil samples collected in the San

Joaquin Valley of California (Halverson, 2000).  The soil type in the San Joaquin Valley where

these samples of B. pumilus were collected is categorized as saline‐sodic.  Samples of soil

collected in an agricultural area of the Netherlands revealed that B. pumilus was naturally

occurring in permanent grassland, short‐term arable land, and long‐term arable land (Garbeva

et al., 2003).  The results of this study indicate that B. pumilus bacteria are naturally present in

agricultural soil whether the soil has been planted recently or not.  Soil samples collected in
Turkey h

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    B. pumilus Natural Distribution

     Becker Underwood

    Page 3 of 3

References

1. Garbeva P, van Veen JA, van Elsas JD. 2003.  Predominant Bacillus spp. in agricultural soil

under different management regimes detected via PCR‐DGGE.  Microbial Ecology.

45:302‐316.  

2. Halverson LJ, Jones TM, Firestone MK. 2000.  Release of intracellular solutes by four soil

bacteria exposed to dilution stress. Soil Sci. Soc. 64; 1630‐1637.  

3. Ivanova EP, Vysotskii MV, Svetashev VI, Nedashkovskaya OI, Gorshkova NM, Mikhailov

VV, Yumoto N, Shigeri Y, Taguchi T, Yoshikawa S. 1999.  Characterization of Bacillus

strains of marine origin. International Microbiol. 2; 267‐271.

4. Juhnke ME, Mathre DE, Sands DC. 1987.  Identification and characterization of

rhizosphere‐competent bacteria of wheat.  Applied Environmental Microbiology. 53(12);

2793‐2799.

5. Merina M, Lipton AP, Wesley G. 2011.  Isolation, characterization and growth response

of biofilm forming bacteria Bacillus pumilus from sea grass, Halodule pinifolia off

Kanyakumari.  Indian Journal of Marine Sciences. 40(3); 443‐448.

6. Oguntoyinbo F A, 2007. Monitoring of marine Bacillus diversity among the bacteria

community of sea water. African Journal of Biotechnology.  6 (2); 163‐166.

7. Puente ME, Bashan Y, Li CY, Lebsky VK. 2004.  Microbial populations and activities in the

rhizoplane of rock‐weathering desert plants. I root colonization and weathering of

igneous rocks.  Plant Biol. 6 (2004) 629‐642.  

8. Yasinok AE, Biran S, Kocabas A, Bakir U, 2010.  Xylanase from a soil isolate, Bacillus

pumilus: gene isolation enzyme production, purification, characterization and one‐step

separation by aqueous‐two‐phase system.  World J. Microbiol. Biotechlol. 26; 1641‐

1652.