Halosarcina pallida gen. nov., sp. nov., a halophilic archaeon from a low-salt, sulfide-rich spring

Abstract

Halosarcina pallida gen. nov., sp. nov., a halophilic archaeon from a low-salt, sulfide-rich spring A novel halophilic archaeon, strain BZ256 T , was isolated from Zodletone Spring, a sulfide-and sulfur-rich spring in south-western Oklahoma, USA. Cells were non-motile, non-flagellated cocci that divided along two axes, resulting in the formation of sarcina-like clusters. Strain BZ256 T grew at salt concentrations ranging from 1.3 to 4.3 M NaCl, with optimum growth at approximately 3.4 M, and required at least 1 mM Mg 2+ for growth. The pH range for growth was 5.0 to at least 8.5, and the temperature range for growth was 25-45 6C. The two diether phospholipids that are typical of members of the order Halobacteriales, namely phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, were present in strain BZ256 T , as were two glycolipids chromatographically identical to S-DGD-1 and DGD-1. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain BZ256 T showed 96.8 % similarity to that of the type strain of Halogeometricum borinquense, the closest recognized species within the order Halobacteriales. The DNA G+C content of strain BZ256 T was 65.4 mol%. Microscopic, physiological, biochemical and phylogenetic comparisons between strain BZ256 T and recognized genera of extremely halophilic archaea suggest that this strain represents a member of a novel genus and species within the family Halobacteriaceae, for which the name Halosarcina pallida gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Halosarcina pallida is BZ256 T (5KCTC 4017 T 5JCM 14848 T ).Members of the family Halobacteriaceae, the single family recognized within the order Halobacteriales, have long been identified as the most abundant micro-organisms in hypersaline environments (Oren, 1994). At the time of writing, the family Halobacteriaceae comprised 25 recognized genera and 101 recognized species. Recently, the extent of the family has been undergoing rapid expansion, with the description (as of June 2007) of five new genera and 20 novel species since 2006. This expansion has been due not only to the identification of novel taxa isolated from well-known hypersaline environments, such as the genera Halovivax, Halostagnicola, Haloplanus and Haloquadratum (Castillo et al., 2006a, b;Bardavid et al., 2007;Burns et al., 2007), but also to the recognition that members of the Halobacteriales can grow within saline microniches in non-saline environments at relatively low salt concentrations (Elshahed et al., 2004a;Savage et al., 2007). In addition, recent studies have reported the isolation of novel halobacterial strains (Purdy et al., 2004;Fukushima et al., 2007) or the detection of novel Halobacteriales-affiliated 16S rRNA gene sequences from moderate-to low-salinity systems (Munson et al., 1997;Takai et al., 2001;Walsh et al., 2005). These studies have shown that the order Halobacteriales is more diverse than previously believed. In the present study, we report on the isolation and characterization of strain BZ256 T from a sulfur-and sulfide-rich spring in south-...

Halosarcina limi sp. nov., a halophilic archaeon from a marine solar saltern, and emended description of the genus Halosarcina

“…The DNA G+C content of strain RO1-6 T was 61.2 mol%, which is lower than that of Hsn. pallida (65.4 mol%; Savage et al, 2008), but higher than the values reported for Haloquadratum walsbyi (46.9 mol%; Burns et al, 2007) and Hgm. borinquense (59.1 mol%; Montalvo-Rodríguez et al, 1998).…”

“…borinquense JCM 10706 T are shown in Table 1. Savage et al 2008 Cells are cocci (sarcina-like clusters) or pleomorphic (rods and deformed cocci) under optimal growth conditions and stain Gram-negative. Cells are motile or non-motile.…”

Phylogenetic Diversities and Community Structure of Members of the Extremely Halophilic Archaea (Order Halobacteriales) in Multiple Saline Sediment Habitats

“…Examples of such habitats are naturally occurring and man-made saline soils, e.g., salt plains and alpine salt sediments (10,54), soils adjacent to salt mines and salt-processing plants (44), traditional Asian salted and fermented seafood products (e.g., jeotgal) (57), deep-sea saline anoxic basins (1), and marine sponges (38). Further, multiple research groups have detected (24,43) and subsequently isolated (25,29,35,53,58,59) Halobacteriales strains from ecosystems with low salinities (1 to 3.5% NaCl), where they appear to possess exceptional survival capabilities and/or are capable of exploiting niches of relatively higher salinities created due to temporal and spatial variations in geochemical conditions in such ecosystems.…”

Archaeal Diversity and Their Biotechnological Potential

“…The numbers of genera is reached to 35 (November 2011-Euzebylist) and Salarchaeaum is the last added extremely halophilic genus (Shimane et al, 2011). Most species of Halobacteriaceae are true extreme halophiles according to Kushner's definition (Kushner, 1978), however, Halobacteriaceae contains some species which can grow in low salinity for instance, Haloferax sulfurifontis (Elshahed et al, 2004), Haladaptatus paucihalophilus "the spesific epithet refers to low salt loving", (Savage et al, 2007) and Halosarcina pallida (Savage et al, 2008). Diverse 16S rRNA gene sequences related to haloarchaea were recovered from tidal marine and salt marsh sediments, suggesting the existence of haloarchaea capable of growth at lower salt levels.…”