Main description:

Salt is an essential requirement of life. Already from ancient times (e. g. , see the books of the Bible) its importance in human life has been known. For example, salt symbolizes destruction (as in Sodom and Gomorra), but on the other hand it has been an ingredient of every sacrifice during the Holy Temple periods. Microbial life in concentrated salt solutions has fascinated scientists since its discovery. Recently there have been several international meetings and books devoted entirely to halophiles. This book includes the proceedings of the "Halophiles 2004" conference held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in September 2004 (www. u- lj. si/~bfbhaloph/index. html). This meeting was attended by 120 participants from 25 countries. The editors have selected presentations given at the meeting for this volume, and have also invited a number of contributions from experts who had not been present in Ljubljana. This book complements "Halophilic Microorganisms", edited by A. Ventosa and published by Springer-Verlag (2004), "Halophilic Microorganism and their Environments" by A. Oren (2002), published by Kluwer Academic Publishers as volume 5 of "Cellular Origins, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology" (COLE), and "Microbiology and Biogeochemistry of Hypersaline Environments" edited by A. Oren, and published by CRC Press, Boca Raton (1999). Salt-loving (halophilic) microorganisms grow in salt solutions above seawater salinity (~3. 5% salt) up to saturation ranges (i. e. , around 35% salt). High concentrations of salt occur in natural environments (e. g.

Contents:

Foreword; J. Seckbach
Introduction; N. Gunde-Cimerman, A. Oren, A. Plemenitas
SECTION I. THE ENVIRONMENTS AND THEIR DIVERSITY
Microbial diversity of Great Salt Lake; B.K. Baxter, C.D. Litchfield, K. Sowers, J.D. Griffith, P.A. DasSarma; S. DasSarma
Microbial communitites in the Dead Sea - past, present and future; A. Oren, I. Gavrieli, J. Gavrieli, M. Kohen, J. Lati, M. Aharoni
Microscopic examination of microbial communitires along a salinity gradient in saltern evaporation poonds: a 'halophilic safari'; A. Oren
The microbial diversity of a solar saltern on San Francisco Bay; C.D. Litchfield, M. Sikaroodi, P.M. Gillivet
Diversity of microbial communities: the case of solar salterns; C. Pedros-Alio
Isolation of viable haloarchaea from ancient salt deposits and application of fluorescent stains for in situ detection of halophiles in hypersaline environmental samples and model fluid inclusions; S. Leuko, A. Legat, S. Fendrihan, H. Wieland, C. Radax, C. Gruber, M. Pfaffenhuemer, G. Weidler, H. Stan-Lotter
Hydrocarbon degredation under hypersaline conditions. Some facts, some experiments and many open questions; H. Patzelt
The relevance of halophiles and other extremophiles to Martian and extraterrestrial environments; J. Seckbach
Halophiles: a terrestrial analog for life in brines on Mars - Halophiles on Mars; R.L. Mancinelli
SECTION II. ARCHAEA
Comparative genomic survey of information transfer systems in two diverse extremely halophilic Archaea, Halobacterium sp. strain NRC-1 and Haloarcula marismortui; B.R. Berquist, J. Soneja, S. DasSarma
Walsby's square archaeon; it's hip to be square but even more hip to be culturable; H. Bolhuis
Gene regulation and the initiation of translation inhalophilic Archaea; F. Pfeifer, P. Zimmermann, S. Scheuch, S. Sartorius-Neef
Protein translation, targeting and translocation in Haloferax volcanii; J. Eichler, G. Ring, V. Irihimovitch, T. Lichi, I. Tozik, Z. Konrad
Enzymes of halophilic Archaea. Recent findings on ureases and nucleoside diphosphate kinases; T. Mizuki, R. Usami, M. Kamo, M. Tanokura, M. Kamekura
Osmoadaptation in methanogenci Archaea: recent insights from a genomic perspective; K. Pfluger, H. Wieland, V. Muller
SECTION III. BACTERIA
Salinibacter ruber: genomics and biogeography; J. Anton, A. Pena, M. Valens, F. Santos, F.-O. Gloeckner, M. Bauer, J. Dopazo, J. Herrero, R. Rossello-Mora, R. Amann
What we can deduce about metabolism in the moderate halophile Chromohalobacter salexigens from its genomic sequence; L.N. Csonka, K. O'Connor, F. Larimer, P. Richardson, A. Lapidus, A.D. Ewing, B.W. Goodner, A. Oren
K+ transport and its role for osmoregulation in a halophilic memberof the Bacteria domain: characterization of the K+ uptake systems from Halomonas elongate; H.-J. Kunte
The chloride regulon of Halobacillus halophilus: a novel regulatory network for salt perception and signal transduction in bacteria; V. Muller, S.H. Saum
Biosynthesis of the compatible solute mannosylglycerate from hyperthermophiles to mesophiles. Genes, enzymes and evolutionary perspectives; M.S. da Costa, N. Empadinhas
Genes and enzymes of ectoine biosynthesis in the haloalkaliphilic obligate methanotroph 'Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum 20Z'; A.S. Reshetnikov, V.N. Khmelenina, I.I. Mustakhimov, Y.V. Ryzhmanova, Y.A. Trotsenko
Halophilic Archaea and Bacteria as a source of extracellular hydrolytic enzymes; A. Ventosa, C. Sanchez-Porro, S. Martin, E.