Draft Genome Sequence of the Biocontrol Bacterium Bacillus

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strainM27 is a biocontrol agent with antagonistic activities against a wide range of fungal pathogens. Here we present the 3.86-Mb draft genome sequence of the bacteriumwith the aims of providing insights into the genomic basis of its antifungal mechanism and facilitating its application in the biocontrol of plant diseases. After the name Bacillus amyloliquefaciens was revived and val-idly published (10), Borriss et al. (4) subdivided the species into two subspecies, B. amyloliquefaciens subsp. amyloliquefaciens and plantarum, on the basis of whole-genome comparisons, as well as classical bacterial taxonomy. They reported that B. amy-loliquefaciens subsp. plantarum could be a promising candidate for use as a potential biofertilizer or biopesticide to improve crop yield and quality, owing to its plant growth-promoting activity and its antagonistic activities against pathogenic fungi (3, 4). Re-cently, the genomes of plant-associated strains of the genus Bacil-lus, including type strain FZB42T, have been completely se-quenced (2, 5–7, 12). Strain M27, isolated from cotton waste compost that was use