Life 2013, 3(1), 234-243; doi:10.3390/life3010234
Molecular Mechanisms of Adaptation of the Moderately Halophilic Bacterium Halobacillis halophilus to Its Environment
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Bioenergetics, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von-Laue-Str. 9, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Received: 11 December 2012 / Revised: 2 February 2013 / Accepted: 5 February 2013 / Published: 27 February 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extremophiles and Extreme Environments)
Abstract
The capability of osmoadaptation is a prerequisite of organisms that live in an environment with changing salinities. Halobacillus halophilus is a moderately halophilic bacterium that grows between 0.4 and 3 M NaCl by accumulating both chloride and compatible solutes as osmolytes. Chloride is absolutely essential for growth and, moreover, was shown to modulate gene expression and activity of enzymes involved in osmoadaptation. The synthesis of different compatible solutes is strictly salinity- and growth phase-dependent. This unique hybrid strategy of H. halophilus will be reviewed here taking into account the recently published genome sequence. Based on identified genes we will speculate about possible scenarios of the synthesis of compatible solutes and the uptake of potassium ion which would complete our knowledge of the fine-tuned osmoregulation and intracellular osmolyte balance in H. halophilus.
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0).
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MDPI and ACS Style
Hänelt, I.; Müller, V. Molecular Mechanisms of Adaptation of the Moderately Halophilic Bacterium Halobacillis halophilus to Its Environment. Life 2013, 3, 234-243.