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Isolation of halophilic and halotolerant bacteria from a Japanese salt field and comparison of the partial 16S rRNA gene sequence of an extremely halophilic isolate with those of other extreme halophiles

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Halophilic and halotolerant bacteria were isolated from soil samples of a Japanese salt field, an environment where salt concentrations vary annually. From 1 g of each of the five samples collected, over 1×103 bacterial colonies (colony forming units (cfu)g-1) grew on agar medium containing 2M Na+. In contrast, 0–4 bacterial colonies (cfu g-1) were observed on agar medium containing 4M Na+. Two of the five samples contained numerous bacteria (102–103 cfu g-1) capable of growth on a 2M Na+ alkaline (pH=9.5) medium, while few bacterial colonies were observed from the other three samples. Only one of the five samples was shown to contain bacteria capable of growth on a 4M Na+ alkaline medium. Most of the bacteria isolated on 4M Na+ agar were eubacteria, but one extreme halophile (TR-1, already described as Haloarcula japonica JCM7785) was also isolated. The 16S rRNA sequence of TR-1 was determined and shows high homology (94.4–98.5%) to Ha. marismortui and Ha. sinaiiensis. These results suggested that: 1) environments with seasonally varying salinity can harbour halotolerants as well as halophiles and, 2) closely related halophiles can be isolated from geographically distant habitats.

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Takashina, T., Otozati, K., Hamamoto, T. et al. Isolation of halophilic and halotolerant bacteria from a Japanese salt field and comparison of the partial 16S rRNA gene sequence of an extremely halophilic isolate with those of other extreme halophiles. Biodivers Conserv 3, 632–642 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114206

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114206

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