The prokaryotic communities of four salterns (Bingöl, Fadlum, Kemah, and Tuzlagözü) in Turkey were examined and compared using the cultivation and cultivation-independent methods [fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and 454 pyrosequencing]. FISH analysis with universal probes revealed that feeding waters carried 1.6 × 10(2)-1.7 × 10(3) cells mL(-1), while crystallization ponds carried 3.8 × 10(6)-2.0 × 10(7) cells mL(-1) that were mostly haloarchaea, including square cells (except for Kemah). High-throughput 16S rRNA-based gene sequencing showed that the most frequent archaeal OTUs in Bingöl, Fadlum, Tuzlagözü, and Kemah samples were affiliated with Haloquadratum (76.8 %), Haloarcula (27.8 %), Halorubrum (49.6 %), and Halonotius (59.8 %), respectively. Bacteroidetes was the dominant bacterial phylum in Bingöl and Fadlum, representing 71.5 and 79.5 % of the bacterial OTUs (respectively), while the most abundant bacterial phylum found in the Kemah saltern was Proteobacteria (79.6 %). The majority of the bacterial OTUs recovered from Tuzlagözü belonged to the Cyanobacteria (35.7 %), Bacteroidetes (35.0 %), and Proteobacteria (25.5 %) phyla. Cultivation studies revealed that the archaeal isolates were closely related to the genera Halobacterium, Haloarcula, and Halorubrum. Bacterial isolates were confined to two phyla, Proteobacteria (Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria classes) and Bacteroidetes. Comparative analysis showed that members of the Euryarchaeota, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Cyanobacteria phyla were major inhabitants of the solar salterns.

Background:Mushrooms have been valued for their nutritive content and as traditional medicines; several important medicinal properties of mushrooms have been recognized worldwide.Objective:The purpose of this study was to elucidate the cell growth inhibitory potential of four edible mushrooms; Coprinus comatus (O.F. Mull.) Pers. (Agaricaceae), Tricholoma fracticum (Britzelm.) Kreisel (Tricholomataceae), Rhizopogon luteolus Fr. and Nordholm (Rhizopogonaceae), Lentinus tigrinus (Bull.) Fr. (Polyporaceae) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells in conjunction with their antioxidant and antibacterial capacities.Materials and Methods:Five different extracts of edible mushrooms were obtained using water, methanol, acetone, n-hexane and chloroform as solvent systems for cytotoxic, antioxidant and antibacterial properties.Results:C. comatus showed substantial in vitro cytotoxic activity against HepG2 cell lines with all extracts especially with chloroform 50% inhibition (IC50 value of 0.086 mg/ml) and acetone (IC50 value of 0.420 mg/ml). Chloroform extract of C. comatus had maximum amount of β-carotene (25.94 μg/mg), total phenolic content (76.32 μg/mg) and lycopene (12.00 μg/mg), and n-hexane extract of L. tigrinus had maximum amount of flavonoid (3.67 μg/mg). While chloroform extract of C. comatus showed the highest 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) capturing activity (1.579 mg/ml), the best result for metal chelating activity was obtained from methanolic extract (0.842 mg/ml). Moreover, all tested mushrooms demonstrated antibacterial activity and n-hexane extract of L. tigrinus and acetone extracts of T. fracticum were the most active against tested microorganism.Conclusion:These results indicate that different extracts of investigated mushroom have considerable cytotoxic, antioxidant and antibacterial properties and may be utilized as a promising source of therapeutics.

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12  halophilic strains from different hypersaline environments such as solar salterns in Tuzlagözü (Sivas), Fadlum (Sivas), Kemah (Erzincan), a hypersaline spring water in Pülümür (Tunceli) and a saline lake in Delice (Kırıkkale) belonging to Turkey, were investigated in terms of levan production. After incubation and ethyl alcohol treatment, dialysis process was operated for partial purification.  Levan amounts in our samples after hydrolysis were calculated based on the amount of sugar obtained by acid hydrolysis of standard levan. Sugar amount of samples were determined using by high performance liquid chromatography system (HPLC). 1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H-NMR) spectra of the levan sample and standard were recorded. The results obtained by HPLC analysis showed that Chromohalobacter canadensis strain 85B had highest production potential as 234.67 mg levan/g biomass.  The chemical shifts of 1H-NMR spectrum of the extracted levan also showed high similarity to those of pure levan isolated from Erwinia herbicola. Furthermore, Marinobacter sp. 163Y strain also is also capable with regard to levan production. In this study, this strain could yield 230.80 mg/g levan and this potential was first reported in the literature.