brevibacillus borstelensis brevibacillus borstelensis brevibacillus borstelensis is a gram-positive, aerobic, rod-shaped, endospore-forming bacterium of the genus brevibacillus. the genome of several b. borstelensis strains have been sequenced. brevibacillus borstelensis scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: bacillota class: bacilli order: bacillales family: paenibacillaceae genus: brevibacillus species: b. borstelensis binomial name brevibacillus borstelensis(shida et al. 1995)shida et al. 1996 brevibacillus borstelensis strain 707 is a thermophilic strain capable of degrading and using polyethylene as its sole source of carbon. this strain was shown to reduce the amount of polyethylene by 30% (30 days at 50°c) and demonstrates that nondegradable plastics like polyethylene can be degraded under appropriate conditions.