## 3 Results and Discussion
### Physiological and Chemotaxonomic Characteristics  
WLY-B-L8T was found to be positive for gelatin hydrolysis, alkaline phosphatase, leucine arylamidase, chymotrypsin, catalase, acid phosphatase, \(\alpha\)-glucosidase, \(\beta\)-glucosidase, esterase (C4), lipoid esterase (C8), naphthol AS-BI-phosphate hydrolase, \(N\)-acetylglglucosamine, nitrate reduction, and aesculin. but negative for citric acid utilization, valine arylamidase, cystine arylamidase, oxidase, arginine dihydrolase, the Voges-Proskauer (VP) test, glucose assimilation, trypsin, \(\alpha\)-galactosidase, esterase (C14), \(\beta\)-galactosidase, \(\beta\)-glucuronidase, \(\alpha\)-mannosidase, and \(\beta\)-fucosidase. This strain can also use \(N\)-acetylglucosamine, D-maltose, glucose, malic acid, and gelatin as its sole carbon sources. It differed from _Bacillus rhizplane JJ-63_ DSM 12442T, _Bacillus pseudomycoides_ DSM 12442T, and _Bacillus cytotoxicus_ NVH 391-98T, in which the positive actions were related to acetoin production, D-glucose, D-fructose, D-maltose, cellobiose, glycogen, etc. ; arginine dihydrolase, citrate utilization, acetoin production, D-ribose, arbutin, etc. ; and acetoin production, gelatinase, D-ribose, D-mannose, arbutin, etc. ; respectively. The detailed physiological and biochemical characteristics of WLY-B-L8T and the reference strains are listed in Table 1. The strain WLY-B-L8T was positive to starch hydrolysis and sucrose, which indicates it can secrete abundant enzymes to perform starch hydrolysis [23], while _Bacillus rhizplane JJ-63_ DSM 12442T was negative to starch hydrolysis or sucrose [27]. This may be because strain WLY-B-L8T was isolated from _daqu_, which was the saccharification starter culture; that is, _daqu_ contains rich glycoside hydrolase [28]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Characteristics** & **1** & **2** & **3** & **4** \\ \hline Cell length (\(\mu\)m) & 1.6–3.4 & 3.0–4.0 & 3.0–5.0 & NR \\ Cell width (\(\mu\)m) & 0.7–1.3 & \(>\)1.0 & \(>\)1.0 & \(>\)1.0 \\ Oxidase/catalase & \(-\)/+ & +/+ & +/+ & +/+ \\ Rhizol colony & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(-\) \\ Growth temperature range (\({}^{\circ}\)C) & 20–40 & 10–36 & 10–45 & 20–50 \\ Optimal growth temperature (\({}^{\circ}\)C) & 40 & 30 & 30(37) & 30–37 \\ Growth NaCl range (\%) & 0–2 & 0–3 & 0–4 & NR \\ Optimal growth NaCl (\%) & 1 & 1.0–2.0 & 0 & NR \\ Growth pH range & 5.0–10.0 & 5.5–10.5 & 5.0–9.5 & NR \\ Optimal growth pH & 8.0–9.0 & 7.0–8.0 & 6.0 & NR \\ Starch hydrolysis & + & \(-\) & + & \(-\) \\ API 20E results & & & & \\ \(\beta\)-Galacosidase & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(-\) \\ Argin dihydrolase & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(+\) & \(-\) \\ Citrate utilization & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(+\) & \(-\) \\ Urease & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(-\) \\ \hline Acetoin production & \(-\) & + & + & +w \\ (Voges\(-\)Proskauer) & \(+\) & \(-\) & + & + \\ Gelatinase & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(-\) & \(-\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Phenotypic characteristics of strain WLY-B-L8T and closely related phylogenetic neighbors in the genus _Bacillus_. Our chemotaxonomic analysis results indicated that ribose, xylose, arabinose, mannose, glucose, and galactose constituted the major cell-wall sugars. MK-7 was the predominant respiratory quinone, which is typical of the large majority of members of the genus _Bacillus_[(3)]. Moreover, _m_eso-diaminopimelic acid (_m_eso-DAP) was the diagnostic amino acid. The main polar lipids of WLY-B-L8T included diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), which are characteristic lipids present in species of the genus _Bacillus_[(3)]. In addition, unidentified aminolipids (UAL 1-2), an unidentified aminophospholipid (UAPL), an unidentified aminoglyolipid (UAGL), and an unidentified lipid (UL) were also detected.