Halobacteriales Explained

Halobacteriales are an order of the Halobacteria,^[1] found in water saturated or nearly saturated with salt. They are also called halophiles, though this name is also used for other organisms which live in somewhat less concentrated salt water. They are common in most environments where large amounts of salt, moisture, and organic material are available. Large blooms appear reddish, from the pigment bacteriorhodopsin. This pigment is used to absorb light, which provides energy to create ATP. Halobacteria also possess a second pigment, halorhodopsin, which pumps in chloride ions in response to photons, creating a voltage gradient and assisting in the production of energy from light. The process is unrelated to other forms of photosynthesis involving electron transport; however, and halobacteria are incapable of fixing carbon from carbon dioxide.

Halobacteria can exist in salty environments because although they are aerobes they have a separate and different way of creating energy through photosynthesis. Parts of the membranes of halobacteria are purplish in color. These parts conduct photosynthetic reactions with retinal pigment rather than chlorophyll. This allows them to create a proton gradient across the membrane of the cell which can be used to create ATP for their own use. Some species in this order are used as model organisms to study how some microorganisms can survive in hypersaline environments, understand cellular processes and to research their physiology.

Ecology

Habitats

Usually, Halobacteriales grow in aerobic and high salinity environments.^[2] Halobacteriales have been found in salt lakes, marine salterns, seawater, solar salts and salted food products.^[3] Mostly, members of the order Halobacteriales can be located in environments where concentration of salt (NaCl) exceeds 25%.^[4] However, they can also survive in environments with low concentrations of salt, between 1 and 3.5%. Studies show Halobacteriales can also be found in environments where sulfur reduction takes part as well as in salinity salterns,, seawater black smoker, coastal salt marshes and chimney structures. This results show Halobacteriales only need the enough amount of salt to prevent their lysis and thus can grow in environments with low salinity concentration.

Current taxonomy

Halobacteriales was a large phylogenetically diverse lineage encompassing all Halobacteria species. The wide variety of biochemical characteristics and different ecological niches of the class Haloarchaea proved to be an unreliable tool in clarifying the evolutionary relationships of Halobacteria above the genus level.

In 2015, Gupta et al. proposed the division of class Halobacteria into three orders, Halobacteriales, Haloferacales and Natrialbales based on comparative genomic analyses and the branching pattern of various phylogenetic trees constructed from several different datasets of conserved proteins and 16S rRNA sequences.^[5] This division greatly restricted the membership of the order Halobacteriales to include only species which were closely related to the type genus, Halobacterium.

A subsequent study examining higher taxonomic relationships within the order Halobacteriales resulted in the division of the order into three families, Halobacteriaceae, Haloarculaceae and Halococcaceae, each of which can be distinguished from each other and all other species through the presence of multiple highly specific molecular signatures, known as conserved signature indels.^[6]

Phylogeny

The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN)^[7] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).^[8]

Note: * paraphyletic Halobacteriaceae

See also

• List of Archaea genera

Further reading

Journals

• Wright AG . Phylogenetic relationships within the order Halobacteriales inferred from 16S rRNA gene sequences . International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology . 56 . Pt 6 . 1223–1227 . June 2006 . 16738095 . 10.1099/ijs.0.63776-0 . free .
• Judicial Commission of the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes . The nomenclatural types of the orders Acholeplasmatales, Halanaerobiales, Halobacteriales, Methanobacteriales, Methanococcales, Methanomicrobiales, Planctomycetales, Prochlorales, Sulfolobales, Thermococcales, Thermoproteales and Verrucomicrobiales are the genera Acholeplasma, Halanaerobium, Halobacterium, Methanobacterium, Methanococcus, Methanomicrobium, Planctomyces, Prochloron, Sulfolobus, Thermococcus, Thermoproteus and Verrucomicrobium, respectively. Opinion 79 . International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology . 55 . Pt 1 . 517–518 . January 2005 . 15653928 . 10.1099/ijs.0.63548-0 . free .
• Cavalier-Smith T . The neomuran origin of archaebacteria, the negibacterial root of the universal tree and bacterial megaclassification . International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology . 52 . Pt 1 . 7–76 . January 2002 . 11837318 . 10.1099/00207713-52-1-7 . free .
• Euzéby JP, Tindall BJ . Nomenclatural type of orders: corrections necessary according to Rules 15 and 21a of the Bacteriological Code (1990 Revision), and designation of appropriate nomenclatural types of classes and subclasses. Request for an opinion . International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology . 51 . Pt 2 . 725–727 . March 2001 . 11321122 . 10.1099/00207713-51-2-725 . free .
• Cavalier-Smith T . 5242667 . The kingdoms of organisms . Nature . 324 . 6096 . 416–7 . 1986 . 2431320 . 10.1038/324416a0 . 1986Natur.324..416C .
• Gupta RS, Naushad S, Baker S . Phylogenomic analyses and molecular signatures for the class Halobacteria and its two major clades: a proposal for division of the class Halobacteria into an emended order Halobacteriales and two new orders, Haloferacales ord. nov. and Natrialbales ord. nov., containing the novel families Haloferacaceae fam. nov. and Natrialbaceae fam. nov . International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology . 65 . Pt 3 . 1050–1069 . March 2015 . 25428416 . 10.1099/ijs.0.070136-0 . free .

Books

• Book: Grant WD, Kamekura M, McGenity TJ, Ventosa A . 2001 . Class III. Halobacteria class. nov. . Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology Volume 1: The Archaea and the deeply branching and phototrophic Bacteria . 2nd . DR Boone . RW Castenholz . . New York . 978-0-387-98771-2 . 169 . registration . https://archive.org/details/bergeysmanualofs00boon/page/169 .
• Book: Grant WD, Larsen H . 1989 . Group III. Extremely halophilic archaeobacteria. Order Halobacteriales ord. nov. . Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, Volume 3 . 1st . JT Staley . MP Bryant . N Pfennig . JG Holt . The Williams & Wilkins Co. . Baltimore . 169.

Notes and References

1. See the NCBI webpage on Halobacteriales. Data extracted from the Web site: NCBI taxonomy resources . . 2007-03-19.
2. Elshahed MS, Najar FZ, Roe BA, Oren A, Dewers TA, Krumholz LR . Survey of archaeal diversity reveals an abundance of halophilic Archaea in a low-salt, sulfide- and sulfur-rich spring . Applied and Environmental Microbiology . 70 . 4 . 2230–9 . April 2004 . 15066817 . 383155 . 10.1128/AEM.70.4.2230-2239.2004 .
3. Book: Oren. Aharon . Ventosa. Antonio. Kamekura. Masahiro . vanc . Halobacteriales. 2017-09-15 . Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria. 1–3. Whitman. William B . Rainey. Fred. Kämpfer. Peter. Trujillo. Martha. Chichester, UK. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. en. 10.1002/9781118960608.obm00048.pub2. 978-1-118-96060-8 .
4. Youssef NH, Ashlock-Savage KN, Elshahed MS . Phylogenetic diversities and community structure of members of the extremely halophilic Archaea (order Halobacteriales) in multiple saline sediment habitats . Applied and Environmental Microbiology . 78 . 5 . 1332–44 . March 2012 . 22179255 . 3294467 . 10.1128/AEM.07420-11 .
5. Gupta. Radhey S.. Naushad. Sohail. Baker. Sheridan. 2015-03-01. Phylogenomic analyses and molecular signatures for the class Halobacteria and its two major clades: a proposal for division of the class Halobacteria into an emended order Halobacteriales and two new orders, Haloferacales ord. nov. and Natrialbales ord. nov., containing the novel families Haloferacaceae fam. nov. and Natrialbaceae fam. nov.. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. en. 65. Pt_3. 1050–1069. 10.1099/ijs.0.070136-0. 25428416 . 1466-5026. free.
6. Gupta. Radhey S.. Naushad. Sohail. Fabros. Reena. Adeolu. Mobolaji. April 2016. A phylogenomic reappraisal of family-level divisions within the class Halobacteria: proposal to divide the order Halobacteriales into the families Halobacteriaceae, Haloarculaceae fam. nov., and Halococcaceae fam. nov., and the order Haloferacales into the families, Haloferacaceae and Halorubraceae fam nov.. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. en. 109. 4. 565–587. 10.1007/s10482-016-0660-2. 26837779 . 254231068 . 0003-6072.
7. Web site: J.P. Euzéby . Halobacteria . 2021-11-17 . List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN).
8. Web site: Sayers . et al.. Halobacteria . 2022-06-05 . National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) taxonomy database.
9. Web site: The LTP . 10 May 2023.
10. Web site: LTP_all tree in newick format. 10 May 2023.
11. Web site: LTP_06_2022 Release Notes. 10 May 2023.
12. Web site: GTDB release 08-RS214 . Genome Taxonomy Database. 10 May 2023.
13. Web site: ar53_r214.sp_label . Genome Taxonomy Database. 10 May 2023.
14. Web site: Taxon History . Genome Taxonomy Database. 10 May 2023.