Halo(natrono)archaea isolated from hypersaline lakes utilize cellulose and chitin as growth substrates.

ABSTRACT: Until recently, extremely halophilic euryarchaeota were considered mostly as aerobic heterotrophs utilizing simple organic compounds as growth substrates. Almost nothing is known on the ability of these prokaryotes to utilize complex polysaccharides, such as cellulose, xylan, and chitin. Although few haloarchaeal cellulases and chitinases were recently characterized, the analysis of currently available haloarchaeal genomes deciphered numerous genes-encoding glycosidases of various families including endoglucanases and chitinases. However, all these haloarchaea were isolated and cultivated on simple substrates and their ability to grow on polysaccharides in situ or in vitro is unknown. This study examines several halo(natrono)archaeal strains from geographically distant hypersaline lakes fo

SUBMITTER: Sorokin DY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4569967 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature