Identification and genome-wide analysis of Bacillus strains JK19 and JK23, two potential biocontrol agents against plant pathogens

Bacillus strains JK19 and JK23 have shown enhanced resistance against various plant pathogens, but the whole genomes and molecular mechanisms of these potential biocontrol agents remain poorly understood. In this study, genome-wide sequencing of these strains was performed with the Illumina HiSeq 4000 system. The JK19 genome (4,222,899 bp) was slightly smaller than the JK23 genome (3,996,105 bp), and 4041 and 3823 protein-coding genes were predicted for JK19 and JK23, respectively. The total number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the coding sequence (CDS) region was 44,023 in JK19 and 44,030 in JK23, while the numbers of insertions and deletions (indels) detected were 343 and 361, respectively, for JK19 and 370 and 366, respectively, for JK23. The phylogenetic trees indicated that JK19 and JK23 are closely related to Bacillus velezensis YAU B9601-Y2, and next-generation sequencing confirmed that both strains belong to B. velezensis. This characterisation of the whole-genome sequences of B. velezensis JK19 and JK23 has broad potential applications in the field of plant disease resistance.