Halobacterium salinarum | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Archaea |
Kingdom: | Euryarchaeota |
Phylum: | Euryarchaeota |
Class: | Halobacteria |
Order: | Halobacteriales |
Family: | Halobacteriaceae |
Genus: | Halobacterium |
Species: | H. salinarium |
Binomial name | |
Halobacterium salinarium corrig. (Harrison and Kennedy 1922) Elazari-Volcani 1957 |
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Synonyms | |
Pseudomonas salinaria Harrison and Kennedy 1922 |
Pseudomonas salinaria Harrison and Kennedy 1922
Serratia salinaria (Harrison and Kennedy 1922) Bergey et al. 1923
Flavobacterium (subgen. Halobacterium) salinarium (Harrison and Kennedy 1922) Elazari-volcani 1940
Halobacter salinaria (Harrison and Kennedy 1922) Anderson 1954
Halobacterium salinarium (Harrison and Kennedy 1922) Elazari-Volcani 1957
Halobacterium halobium (Petter 1931) Elazari-Volcani 1957
Halobacterium cutirubrum (Lochhead 1934) Elazari-Volcani 1957
Halobacterium salinarum is an extremely halophilic marine Gram-negative obligate aerobic archaeon. Despite its name, this microorganism is not a bacterium, but rather 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.
Halobacteria are single-celled, rod-shaped microorganisms that are among the most ancient forms of life and appeared on Earth billions of years ago. . The membrane consists of a single lipid monolayer surrounded by an S-layer. The S-layer is made of a cell-surface glycoprotein, which accounts for approximately 50% of the cell surface proteins. These proteins form a lattice in the membrane. Sulfate residues are abundant on the glycan chains of the glycoprotein, giving it a negative charge. The negative charge is believed to stabilize the lattice in high-salt conditions.