Applying microbial electrochemical technologies for the treatment of highly saline or thermophilic solutions is challenging due to the lack of proper inocula to enrich for efficient exoelectrogens. Brine pools from three different locations (Valdivia, Atlantis II and Kebrit) in the Red Sea were investigated as potential inocula sources for enriching exoelectrogens in microbial electrolysis cell...

Search for new industrial enzymes having novel properties continues to be a desirable pursuit in enzyme research. The halophilic organisms inhabiting under saline/ hypersaline conditions are considered as promising source of useful enzymes. Their enzymes are structurally adapted to perform efficient catalysis under saline environment wherein n0n-halophilic enzymes often lose their structure and...

The aim of this study was to investigate the supposed vertical diel migration and the accompanying physiology of Beggiatoa bacteria from hypersaline microbial mats. We combined microsensor, stable-isotope, and molecular techniques to clarify the phylogeny and physiology of the most dominant species inhabiting mats of the natural hypersaline Lake Chiprana, Spain. The most dominant morphotype had...

Methanogens have been reported in complex microbial communities from hypersaline environments, but little is known about their phylogenetic diversity. In this work, methane concentrations in environmental gas samples were determined while methane production rates were measured in microcosm experiments with competitive and non-competitive substrates. In addition, the phylogenetic diversity of me...

The extreme osmotic conditions prevailing in hypersaline environments result in decreasing metabolic diversity with increasing salinity. Various microbial metabolisms have been shown to occur even at high salinity, including photosynthesis as well as sulfate and nitrate reduction. However, information about anaerobic microbial iron metabolism in hypersaline environments is scarce. We studied th...

Salt mines represent an extreme environment with hypersaline conditions, complete darkness, and low nutrient availability. The diversity of filamentous fungi in such habitats is largely unknown. Eight strains of an unknown fungus were isolated from water samples of the salt mine in Berchtesgaden (Bavaria, Germany). They could be assigned to the ascomycete genus Phialosimplex, based on their com...

Using three different microscopy techniques (epifluorescence, electronic and atomic force microscopy), we showed that high-Mg calcite grains in calcifying microbial mats from the hypersaline lake "La Salada de Chiprana", Spain, contain viruses with a diameter of 50-80 nm. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer analysis revealed that they contain nitrogen and phosphorus in a molar ratio of ~9, whi...

Microbial mats are unique geobiological ecosystems that form as a result of complex communities of microorganisms interacting with each other and their physical environment. Both the microorganisms present and the network of metabolic interactions govern ecosystem function therein. These systems are often found in a range of extreme environments, and those found in elevated salinity have been p...

19.4 Examples of Cyanobacterial Habitats with High Exposure ....................................................... 485 19.4.1 Hot Springs ..................................................................... 485 19.4.2 Intertidal Marine and Hypersaline Habitats .................... 486 19.4.3 Benthic Freshwater Habitats ........................................... 487 19.4.4 Marine and Freshwat...