Haloarcula marismortui | |
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Species: | H. marismortui |
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Haloarcula marismortui (ex Volcani 1940) Oren et al. 1990 [1] | |
Haloarcula marismortui is a halophilic archaeon isolated from the Dead Sea.
Haloarcula marismortui is a Gram-negative archaeon with a cell size of 1.0–2.x 2.0–3.0 μm (diameter x length). Cells are pleomorphic appearing as short rods to rectangles. H. marismortui is motile via archaellum and possesses a cell membrane that consists of triglycosyl, diether lipids, and glycoproteins. [2]
H. marismortui is an aerobic chemoorganotroph that utilizes glycolysis and a modified Entner-Doudaroff pathway for the breakdown of nutrients. H. marismortui utilizes energy sources such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, glycerol, malate, acetate & succinate while producing nitrogen, metabolic carbon, and acid as byproducts. Can also grow anaerobically by using nitrate as an electron acceptor. [2]
The genome of H. marismortui is organized into nine circular replicons, in which individual G+C content varies from 54 to 62%. [3] H. marismortui contains 4,366 genes and 4,274,642 base pairs (Strain ATCC 43049). [4]
H. marismortui has one of the only two prokaryotic large ribosomal subunits which have so far been crystallized. The other one is Deinococcus radiodurans.
Haloarcula marismortui is considered an extreme halophile and has been isolated from the Dead Sea. [3] H. marismortui has a temperature optima between 40 and 50 °C and a pH range of 5.5–8.0. Growth can occur at a wide range of NaCl concentrations spanning 5-35% with optimal growth between 15 and 25%. [2] The unusually large number of environmental regulatory genes found within the H. marismortui genome suggests higher fitness in extreme environments compared to other species of Halobacterium. [3]
H. marismortui encodes a large family of multi-domain proteins(49) that act as sensors and regulators including Opsin proteins "Sop I & II, Hop, & Bop". These proteins help maintain physiological ion concentrations, facilitate phototaxis, and generate chemical energy via a proton gradient. [3] H. marismortui is believed to possess over 100 ecoparalogs, genes that perform the same function under environmental stress, that helps maintain its system of environmental adaptability. Multiple genes were found to have a factor on temperature control (rrnA/B/C) and cell motility (FlaA2 & FlaB). [5] H. marismortui encodes a large family of multidomain proteins (49) that act as environmental regulators and sensors. [3] This allows H. marimortui to survive in highly variable environmental conditions.
High environmental adaptability makes H. marismortui an ideal candidate for future bioremediation research with the potential of utilizing its environmental sensory genes in environmental clean up. [3]
A halophile is an extremophile that thrives in high salt concentrations. In chemical terms, halophile refers to a Lewis acidic species that has some ability to extract halides from other chemical species.
Archaeoglobus is a genus of the phylum Euryarchaeota. Archaeoglobus can be found in high-temperature oil fields where they may contribute to oil field souring.
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Halobacterium is a genus in the family Halobacteriaceae.
Halobacterium salinarum, formerly known as Halobacterium cutirubrum or Halobacterium halobium, is an extremely halophilic marine obligate aerobic archaeon. Despite its name, this is not a bacterium, but a member of the domain Archaea. It is found in salted fish, hides, hypersaline lakes, and salterns. As these salterns reach the minimum salinity limits for extreme halophiles, their waters become purple or reddish color due to the high densities of halophilic Archaea. H. salinarum has also been found in high-salt food such as salt pork, marine fish, and sausages. The ability of H. salinarum to survive at such high salt concentrations has led to its classification as an extremophile.
Haloarcula is a genus of extreme halophilic Archaea in the class of Halobactaria.
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Halspiviridae is a family of viruses that consists of a single genus, Salterprovirus, which consists of a single recognised species; Salterprovirus His1. This virus was isolated from hypersaline water in Australia and was able to be cultured on the halophilic archaeon Haloarcula hispanica. Like many other archaeoviruses, His1 has an approximately limoniform (lemon-shaped) virion.
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Methanococcus maripaludis is a species of methanogenic archaea found in marine environments, predominantly salt marshes. M. maripaludis is a non-pathogenic, gram-negative, weakly motile, non-spore-forming, and strictly anaerobic mesophile. It is classified as a chemolithoautotroph. This archaeon has a pleomorphic coccoid-rod shape of 1.2 by 1.6 μm, in average size, and has many unique metabolic processes that aid in survival. M. maripaludis also has a sequenced genome consisting of around 1.7 Mbp with over 1,700 identified protein-coding genes. In ideal conditions, M. maripaludis grows quickly and can double every two hours.
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Haloquadratum walsbyi is a species of Archaea in the genus Haloquadratum, known for its square shape and halophilic nature.
Halobacterium noricense is a halophilic, rod-shaped microorganism that thrives in environments with salt levels near saturation. Despite the implication of the name, Halobacterium is actually a genus of archaea, not bacteria. H. noricense can be isolated from environments with high salinity such as the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Members of the Halobacterium genus are excellent model organisms for DNA replication and transcription due to the stability of their proteins and polymerases when exposed to high temperatures. To be classified in the genus Halobacterium, a microorganism must exhibit a membrane composition consisting of ether-linked phosphoglycerides and glycolipids.
Halostagnicola larsenii is a non-motile, aerobic, gram-negative, rod shaped archaeon. It is a halophilic, neutrophilic, chemo-organotroph and was isolated from samples taken from a saline lake in China. The etymology of the name comes from hals, halos Greek for salt, stagnum Latin for a piece of standing water, -cola Latin for inhabitant or dweller, and Larsenii named after the Norwegian microbiologist, Helge Larsen, who was a pioneer in research regarding halophiles.
Acidilobus saccharovorans is a thermoacidophilic species of anaerobic archaea. The species was originally described in 2009 after being isolated from hot springs in Kamchatka.
Halorubrum lacusprofundi is a rod-shaped, halophilic Archaeon in the family of Halorubraceae. It was first isolated from Deep Lake in Antarctica in the 1980s.
An archaeal virus is a virus that infects and replicates in archaea, a domain of unicellular, prokaryotic organisms. Archaeal viruses, like their hosts, are found worldwide, including in extreme environments inhospitable to most life such as acidic hot springs, highly saline bodies of water, and at the bottom of the ocean. They have been also found in the human body. The first known archaeal virus was described in 1974 and since then, a large diversity of archaeal viruses have been discovered, many possessing unique characteristics not found in other viruses. Little is known about their biological processes, such as how they replicate, but they are believed to have many independent origins, some of which likely predate the last archaeal common ancestor (LACA).