Halophilic enzymes, known as extremozymes produced by halophilic microorganisms, have identical enzymatic features like their non-halophilic counterpart, but they exhibit different properties mainly in structure. Among these, two main points could be mentioned, (i) a high content in acidic amino-acids located predominantly at the protein surface and (ii) requirement for high salt concentration ...

background and objectives: heavy metals are considered as high risk biocides due to their harmful effects on human health, the environment and other living organisms. bacterial strains showing resistance to heavy metals has been used for removing such toxic materials from the environment. in this study we isolated and characterized a heavy metals-resistance halophilic bacterial strains from kal...

Protein-solvent interactions govern the behaviors of proteins isolated from extreme halophiles. In this work, we compared the solvent envelopes of two orthologous tetrameric malate dehydrogenases (MalDHs) from halophilic and non-halophilic bacteria. The crystal structure of the MalDH from the non-halophilic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus (Ca MalDH) solved, de novo, at 1.7 Å resolution exhib...

This study highlights the decomposing role through hydrolytic activities of fungi isolated from natural environments represented by brackish and hypersaline lakes in Romania. Novel strains belonging to Penicillium, Aspergillus, Emericellopsis genera were screened for ability produce extracellular enzymes, i.e., proteases, lipases, amylases, cellulases, xylanases, pectinases. According salt requ...

Unexpectedly high culturable diversity of moderately and extremely halophilic obligately chemolithoautotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) was discovered in the sediments of various hypersaline habitats, including chloride-sulfate lakes in Mongolia, Russia and Ukraine, a sea saltern in Slovenia and a deep-sea salt brine from the Mediterranean. Six different groups of halophilic SOB, includi...

Halophilic bacteria grow over an extended range of salt concentrations. Their metabolic patterns are distinct compared to their terrestrial counterparts and obligate halophiles. The possibility of rapid adjustment to changes in the external salt concentration makes them potential candidates for bioprocessing. Halophilic bacteria produce enzymes, metabolites, solutes, exopolysaccharides and pigm...

Salterns, one of the most extreme natural hypersaline environments, are a rich source of halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms, but they remain largely underexplored ecological niches in the discovery of bioactive secondary metabolites. In continued efforts to investigate the metabolic potential of microbial populations from chemically underexplored sites, three new lipopeptides named itur...

Proteins from halophilic microorganisms thriving at high salinity have an excess of charged carboxylate groups, and it is widely believed that this gives rise to an exceptionally strong hydration that stabilizes these proteins against unfolding and aggregation. Here, we examine this hypothesis by characterizing the hydration dynamics of a halophilic model protein with frequency- and temperature...

Halophiles are extremophile organisms that thrive in environments with very high concentrations of salt. The salt mines of Karak region, is an extremely saline environment and its microbial communities have not yet been explored. In the present study, twenty one halotolerant and halophilic bacterial strains were isolated from salt mines of Karak region. These strains can grow in media with 5-40...

Halophiles are perceived as an excellent source of novel enzymes possessing inherent ability to function under saline and hypersaline environment conditions. The article covers and puts in perspective the structural and biocatalytic features of α-amylases from halophilic sources. The choice of α-amylase as the target enzyme is based on the fact that this is among the largest selling enzymes. Ol...