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Microorganisms
Special Issues
Adaptation of Halophilic/Halotolerant Microorganisms and Their Applications
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Adaptation of Halophilic/Halotolerant Microorganisms and Their Applications

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 5899

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jose M. Martinez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro De Biología Molecular for Jose Martinez, Institute of Polar Sciences for Violeta La Cono, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Interests: hypersaline sediments; halophile; polyextreme microorganisms
Dr. Violetta La Cono

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy
Interests: marine microbiology; extreme environments; biotechnologies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Darwin predicted on arriving at the Argentinean salt flats that the characteristic pink colouring of the system was due to the presence of the then-known Animacula. For the first time, microorganisms capable of tolerating high salinity and the presence of life in the Dead Sea were described in the decade of the 1910s and 1930s. Ever since, we have come a long way in our knowledge about halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms. However, our salt-worshipping friends never cease to amaze us. In recent years, we have discovered many environments where these microorganisms are able to live and we have also learned that halophiles and halotolerants are able to adapt to other extreme factors at the same time such as temperature, pH, chaotropicity, desiccation, and high concentrations of heavy metals, so that in recent years, the boom in halophilia has returned due to the study of polyextreme environments.

In addition to basic research, halophilic microorganisms are interesting for the study of the origin of life and searching for life in other systems such as Mars or Europe. Furthermore, they have helped us in the development of biotechnology, enabling diverse applications (chemical industry, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, art preservation, microelectronics, hydrogen production, bioleaching) and they have even provided us with new discoveries such as the CRISPR-CAS9 system. In this Special Issue, we seek to explore new frontiers regarding the adaptations of halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms. Learning about new environments where these microorganisms can inhabit and new biotechnological applications based on their adaptation mechanisms.

In this Special Issue, we hope to expand our knowledge about the limits, adaptations and environments where halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms are able to thrive. Furthermore, we expect to discover new applications of this knowledge for sustainable and social development.

Dr. Jose M. Martinez
Dr. Violetta La Cono
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • halotolerant microorganisms
  • halophile
  • heavy metals
  • polyextreme environments

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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11 pages, 7911 KiB  
Article
Establishment of a Halophilic Bloom in a Sterile and Isolated Hypersaline Mesocosm
by Matthew E. Rhodes, Allyson D. Pace, Menny M. Benjamin, Heather Ghent and Katherine S. Dawson
Microorganisms 2023, 11(12), 2886; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11122886 - 29 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2112
Abstract
Extreme environments, including hypersaline pools, often serve as biogeographical islands. Putative colonizers would need to survive transport across potentially vast distances of inhospitable terrain. Hyperhalophiles, in particular, are often highly sensitive to osmotic pressure. Here, we assessed whether hyperhalophiles are capable of rapidly [...] Read more.
Extreme environments, including hypersaline pools, often serve as biogeographical islands. Putative colonizers would need to survive transport across potentially vast distances of inhospitable terrain. Hyperhalophiles, in particular, are often highly sensitive to osmotic pressure. Here, we assessed whether hyperhalophiles are capable of rapidly colonizing an isolated and sterile hypersaline pool and the order of succession of the ensuing colonizers. A sterile and isolated 1 m3 hypersaline mesocosm pool was constructed on a rooftop in Charleston, SC. Within months, numerous halophilic lineages successfully navigated the 20 m elevation and the greater than 1 km distance from the ocean shore, and a vibrant halophilic community was established. All told, in a nine-month period, greater than a dozen halophilic genera colonized the pool. The first to arrive were members of the Haloarchaeal genus Haloarcula. Like a weed, the Haloarcula rapidly colonized and dominated the mesocosm community but were later supplanted by other hyperhalophilic genera. As a possible source of long-distance inoculum, both aerosol and water column samples were obtained from the Great Salt Lake and its immediate vicinity. Members of the same genus, Haloarcula, were preferentially enriched in the aerosol sample relative to the water column samples. Therefore, it appears that a diverse array of hyperhalophiles are capable of surviving aeolian long-distance transport and that some lineages, in particular, have possibly adapted to that strategy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptation of Halophilic/Halotolerant Microorganisms and Their Applications)
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19 pages, 2991 KiB  
Article
Diversity, Taxonomic Novelty, and Encoded Functions of Salar de Ascotán Microbiota, as Revealed by Metagenome-Assembled Genomes
by Marcelo Veloso, Angie Waldisperg, Patricio Arros, Camilo Berríos-Pastén, Joaquín Acosta, Hazajem Colque, Macarena A. Varas, Miguel L. Allende, Luis H. Orellana and Andrés E. Marcoleta
Microorganisms 2023, 11(11), 2819; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11112819 - 20 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3191
Abstract
Salar de Ascotán is a high-altitude arsenic-rich salt flat exposed to high ultraviolet radiation in the Atacama Desert, Chile. It hosts unique endemic flora and fauna and is an essential habitat for migratory birds, making it an important site for conservation and protection. [...] Read more.
Salar de Ascotán is a high-altitude arsenic-rich salt flat exposed to high ultraviolet radiation in the Atacama Desert, Chile. It hosts unique endemic flora and fauna and is an essential habitat for migratory birds, making it an important site for conservation and protection. However, there is limited information on the resident microbiota’s diversity, genomic features, metabolic potential, and molecular mechanisms that enable it to thrive in this extreme environment. We used long- and short-read metagenomics to investigate the microbial communities in Ascotán’s water, sediment, and soil. Bacteria predominated, mainly Pseudomonadota, Acidobacteriota, and Bacteroidota, with a remarkable diversity of archaea in the soil. Following hybrid assembly, we recovered high-quality bacterial (101) and archaeal (6) metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), including representatives of two putative novel families of Patescibacteria and Pseudomonadota and two novel orders from the archaeal classes Halobacteriota and Thermoplasmata. We found different metabolic capabilities across distinct lineages and a widespread presence of genes related to stress response, DNA repair, and resistance to arsenic and other metals. These results highlight the remarkable diversity and taxonomic novelty of the Salar de Ascotán microbiota and its rich functional repertoire, making it able to resist different harsh conditions. The highly complete MAGs described here could serve future studies and bioprospection efforts focused on salt flat extremophiles, and contribute to enriching databases with microbial genome data from underrepresented regions of our planet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptation of Halophilic/Halotolerant Microorganisms and Their Applications)
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