Abstract
A new species of halophilic photosynthetic bacteria, Rhodospirillum salinarum, has been isolated and described. Its natural habitat are the terminal crystallization ponds of solar salt production plants. R. salinarum grows optimally at 42°C in the presence of 6–18% NaCl (w/v). Growth requirements are complex, yeast extract and peptone being required both for aerobic heterotrophic and for anaerobic phototrophic growth. Increasing concentrations of NaCl in the growth media did not give rise to any corresponding increase in intracellular concentrations of K+, Na+, polyalcohols or amino acids. Malate dehydrogenase from R. salinarum is not halophilic, being inhibited even at low concentrations of Na+ or K+. The GC mol % of DNA from R. salinarum is markedly higher than that for DNA from R. salexigens, the only previously described halophilic species of the genus Rhodospirillum.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baas Becking LGM (1928) On organisms living in concentrated brine. Tidschr Nederland Dierk Ver 3:6–9
Ben-Amotz A, Avron M (1978) On the mechanisms of osmoregulation in Dunaliella. In: Caplan SR, Ginzburg M (eds) Energetics and structure of halophilic microorganisms. Elsevier/North Holland Biomedical Press, Amsterdam New York, pp 529–541
Brown AD (1976) Microbial water stress. Bact Rev 40:803–846
Christian JHB, Waltho JA (1961) The sodium and potassium content of non-halophilic bacteria in relation to salt tolerance. J Gen Microbiol 25:97–102
Drews G (1981) Rhodospirillum salexigens, sp. nov., an obligatory halophilic phototrophic bacterium. Arch Microbiol 130: 327–327
Drews G, Oelze J (1981) Organization and differentiation of membranes of phototrophic bacteria. Adv Microbiol Physiol 22:1–91
Eimhjellen K (1965) Isolation of extremely halophilic bacteria. Ztbl Bakt Parasitkde Abt 1, Suppl 126
Galinski EA, Trüper HG (1982) Betaine, a compatible solute in the extremely halophilic phototrophic bacterium Ectothiorhodospira halochloris. FEMS Microbiol Lett 13:357–360
Golecki JR, Drews G (1980) Cellular organization of the halophilic, phototrophic bacterium, strain WS 68. Eur J Cell Biol 22:654–660
Imhoff JF, Trüper HG (1977) Ectothiorhodospira halochloris sp. nov., a new extremely phototrophic bacterium containing bacteriochlorophyll b. Arch Microbiol 114:115–121
Imhoff JF, Trüper HG (1981) Ectothiorhodospira abdelmalekii sp. nov., a new halophilic and alkaliphilic phototrophic bacterium. Zbl Bakt Hyg Orig C 2:228–234
Imhoff JF, Tindall BJ, Grant WD, Trüper HG (1981) Ectothiorhodospira vacuolata sp. nov., a new phototrophic bacterium from Soda Lakes. Arch Microbiol 130:238–242
Irschik H, Oelze J (1973) Membrane differentiation in phototrophically growing Rhodospirillum rubrum during transition from low to high light intensity. Biochim Biophys Acta 330:80–89
Kates J, Jones R (1964) Variation in alanine dehydrogenase and glutamate dehydrogenase during the synchronous development of Chlamydomonas. Biochim Biophys Acta 86:438–447
Kushner DJ (1978) Life in high salt and solute concentrations: halophilic bacteria. In: Kushner DJ (ed) Microbial life in extreme environments. Academic Press, London New York San Francisco, pp 317–368
Lepierre C (1935) A industria do sal em Portugal. Instituto Superior Ciencias Economicas e Financeiras, Lisboa
Makemson JC, Hasting JW (1979) Glutamate functions in osmoregulation in a marine bacterium. Appl Environ Microbiol 38:178–180
Mandel M, Marmur J (1968) Use of ultraviolet absorbance-temperature profile for determining the guanine plus cytosine content of DNA. Methods Enzymol 12B:195–206
Mandel M, Schildkraut GL, Marmur J (1968) Use of CsCl density gradient analysis for determining the guanine plus cytosine content of DNA. Methods Enzymol 12B:184–195
Marmur J (1961) A procedure for the isolation of deoxyribonucleic acid from microorganisms. Methods Enzymol 6:729–738
Masui M, Wada S (1973) Intracellular concentrations of Na+, K+ and Cl- of a moderately halophilic bacterium. Can J Microbiol 19:1181–1186
Matheson AT, Sprott GD, McDonald IJ (1976) Some properties of an unidentified halophile, growth characteristics, internal salt concentrations and morphology. Can J Microbiol 22:780–786
Measures JC (1975) Role of amino acids in osmoregulations of non-halophilic bacteria. Nature 257:398–400
Muller LL, Jacks TJ (1975) Rapid chemical dehydration of samples for electron microscopic examinations. J Histochem Cytochem 23:107–110
Niel CB van (1932) On the morphology and physiology of the purple and green sulphur bacteria. Arch Microbiol 3:1–112
Pfennig N (1969) Rhodospirillum tenue sp. n., a new species of the purple nonsulfur bacteria. J Bact 99:619–620
Pfennig N (1978) General physiology and ecology of photosynthetic bacteria. In: le Clayton R, Sistrom WR (eds) The photosynthetic bacteria. Plenum Press, New York London, pp 3–18
Raymond JC, Sistrom WR (1967) The isolation and preliminary characterization of a halophilic photosynthetic bacterium. Arch Microbiol 69:121–126
Raymond JC, Sistrom WR (1969) Ectothiorhodospira halophila. A new species of the genus Ectothiorhodospira. Arch Microbiol 69:121–126
Sadler M, McAninch M, Alico R, Hochstein LI (1980) The intracellular Na+ and K+ composition of the moderately halophilic bacterium, Paracoccus halodenitrificans. Can J Microbiol 26:496–502
Shindler DB, Wydro RM, Kushner DJ (1977) Cell-bound cation of the moderately halophilic bacterium Vibrio costicola. J Bact 130:698–703
Spurr AR (1969) A low viscosity epoxy resin embedding medium for electron microscopy. J Ultrastruct Res 26:31–43
Tabita FR, McFadden BA (1976) Molecular and catalytic properties of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase from the photosynthetic extreme halophile Ectothiorhodospira halophila. J Bact 126:1271–1277
Tempest DW, Meers JL, Brown CM (1970) Influence of environment on the content and composition of microbial free amino acid pools. J Gen Microbiol 64:171–185
Torsvik T, Dundas ID (1980) Persisting phage infection in Halobacterium salinarium str. 1. J Gen Virol 47:29–36
Trüper HG (1968) Ectothiorhodospira mobilis Pelsh, a photosynthetic sulfur bacterium depositing sulfur outside the cells. J Bact 95:1910–1920
Trüper HG, Pfennig N (1978) Taxonomy of the Rhodospirillales. In: le Clayton R, Sistrom WR (eds) The photosynthetic bacteria. Plenum Press, New York London
Trüper HG, Yentsch CS (1967) Use of glass fibre filters for the rapid preparation of in vivo absorption spectra of photosynthetic bacteria. J Bact 94:1255–1256
Udenfriend S, Stanley S, Bøhlen P, Dairman W (1972) Fluorescamine: A reagent for assay of amino acids, peptides, proteins and primary amines in the picomole range. Science 178:871–872
Yancey PH, Clark ME, Hand SC, Bowlus RD, Somero GN (1982) Living with water stress: Evolution of osmolyte systems. Science 217:1214–1222
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nissen, H., Dundas, I.D. Rhodospirillum salinarum sp. nov., a halophilic photosynthetic bacterium isolated from a Portuguese saltern. Arch. Microbiol. 138, 251–256 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402131
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402131