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Halomonas meridiana

Halomonas meridiana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Bacteria
Phylum: Proteobacteria
Class: Gammaproteobacteria
Order: Oceanospirillales
Family: Halomonadaceae
Genus: Halomonas
Species: meridiana

Halomonas meridiana is a bacterial species discovered in 1997 in the hypersaline lakes of Vestfold Hills, Antarctica.

Halomonas meridiana is a Gram-negative microorganism of the Halomonadaceae family. There are several known strains of this microbe including DSM 5425, ACAM 246, ATCC 49692, and CIP 104043. It shares many of the same characteristics as others in the same genus. H. meridiana was placed in this genus due to its halophillic nature as well as its close genomic relation to others in the same taxa. This species shares a close relationship with the known species Halomonas elongate, Halomonas halmophila, and Halomonas subglaciescola.

Halomonas meridiana is a Gram-negative halophilic organism found in the lakes of Antarctica. It is a rod-shaped cell with rounded ends, and it has peritrichous, all over the surface, flagella. It is between 2 and 3 micrometers in length and 1 micrometer wide. This organism has an average genome currently sized 3.8 mega base pairs (Mbp) containing 56.96% GC's, or guanine and cytosine content. It has 3,864 genes of which 3,696 of those genes are protein coding.H. meridiana is a commensal marine bacteria that is found living on reef-building corals as part of their surface microbiome. It is not known to be pathogenic. Halomonas meridiana is a heterotrophic organism capable of anaerobic growth with the aid of glucose when nitrogen is not present.

In 1997, James et al. published a paper describing an organism they had discovered. It was found in the Vestfold Hills, Antarctica salt lakes, which contained many undescribed microbes including this organism. Water from the lake was placed on agar plates and incubated. After allowing time for growth, single cells were removed from colonies and grown on new agar places. After 2–4 weeks of incubation, colonies were transferred to a basal media designed to simulate an organic lake. Many species of microorganisms and several strains of what would later be identified as Halomonas meridiana were found and tested for physical and chemical characteristics using quantitative phylogenetic techniques. James et al. mapped the results of DNA base composition, salt tolerance, and temperature tolerance tests against those of other known organisms of the same family. After careful study, they determined that the organism they had found was different from the rest. They called the organism Halomonas meridiana due to its close relation to the Halomonas genus. In addition to Antarctica, Halomonas meridiana was also isolated from the host of organisms found living in and on coral, Acropora, across the world. The found organism was identified as Halomonas meridiana using sequences of parts of the 16S rRNA gene. The word Halomonas comes from the Greek word halos meaning "salt" and monas meaning "unit" and The word meridiana comes from the word meridian meaning “of or belonging to the south".


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