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The genome of the square archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi : life at the limits of water activity
BACKGROUND: The square halophilic archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi dominates NaCl-saturated and MgCl(2 )enriched aquatic ecosystems, which imposes a serious desiccation stress, caused by the extremely low water activity. The genome sequence was analyzed and physiological and physical experiments were...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2006
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1544339/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16820047 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-7-169 |
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author | Bolhuis, Henk Palm, Peter Wende, Andy Falb, Michaela Rampp, Markus Rodriguez-Valera, Francisco Pfeiffer, Friedhelm Oesterhelt, Dieter |
author_facet | Bolhuis, Henk Palm, Peter Wende, Andy Falb, Michaela Rampp, Markus Rodriguez-Valera, Francisco Pfeiffer, Friedhelm Oesterhelt, Dieter |
author_sort | Bolhuis, Henk |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The square halophilic archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi dominates NaCl-saturated and MgCl(2 )enriched aquatic ecosystems, which imposes a serious desiccation stress, caused by the extremely low water activity. The genome sequence was analyzed and physiological and physical experiments were carried out in order to reveal how H. walsbyi has specialized into its narrow and hostile ecological niche and found ways to cope with the desiccation stress. RESULTS: A rich repertoire of proteins involved in phosphate metabolism, phototrophic growth and extracellular protective polymers, including the largest archaeal protein (9159 amino acids), a homolog to eukaryotic mucins, are amongst the most outstanding features. A relatively low GC content (47.9%), 15–20% less than in other halophilic archaea, and one of the lowest coding densities (76.5%) known for prokaryotes might be an indication for the specialization in its unique environment CONCLUSION: Although no direct genetic indication was found that can explain how this peculiar organism retains its square shape, the genome revealed several unique adaptive traits that allow this organism to thrive in its specific and extreme niche. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-1544339 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2006 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-15443392006-08-16 The genome of the square archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi : life at the limits of water activity Bolhuis, Henk Palm, Peter Wende, Andy Falb, Michaela Rampp, Markus Rodriguez-Valera, Francisco Pfeiffer, Friedhelm Oesterhelt, Dieter BMC Genomics Research Article BACKGROUND: The square halophilic archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi dominates NaCl-saturated and MgCl(2 )enriched aquatic ecosystems, which imposes a serious desiccation stress, caused by the extremely low water activity. The genome sequence was analyzed and physiological and physical experiments were carried out in order to reveal how H. walsbyi has specialized into its narrow and hostile ecological niche and found ways to cope with the desiccation stress. RESULTS: A rich repertoire of proteins involved in phosphate metabolism, phototrophic growth and extracellular protective polymers, including the largest archaeal protein (9159 amino acids), a homolog to eukaryotic mucins, are amongst the most outstanding features. A relatively low GC content (47.9%), 15–20% less than in other halophilic archaea, and one of the lowest coding densities (76.5%) known for prokaryotes might be an indication for the specialization in its unique environment CONCLUSION: Although no direct genetic indication was found that can explain how this peculiar organism retains its square shape, the genome revealed several unique adaptive traits that allow this organism to thrive in its specific and extreme niche. BioMed Central 2006-07-04 /pmc/articles/PMC1544339/ /pubmed/16820047 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-7-169 Text en Copyright © 2006 Bolhuis et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Bolhuis, Henk Palm, Peter Wende, Andy Falb, Michaela Rampp, Markus Rodriguez-Valera, Francisco Pfeiffer, Friedhelm Oesterhelt, Dieter The genome of the square archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi : life at the limits of water activity |
title | The genome of the square archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi : life at the limits of water activity |
title_full | The genome of the square archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi : life at the limits of water activity |
title_fullStr | The genome of the square archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi : life at the limits of water activity |
title_full_unstemmed | The genome of the square archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi : life at the limits of water activity |
title_short | The genome of the square archaeon Haloquadratum walsbyi : life at the limits of water activity |
title_sort | genome of the square archaeon haloquadratum walsbyi : life at the limits of water activity |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1544339/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16820047 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-7-169 |
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