four halotolerant fungal isolates originating from the saltwater lake urmia in iran were selected during a screening program for salt resistance and α-amylase activity. the isolates were identified based on sequencing the its region and a part of the β-tubulin gene, as penicillium chrysogenum (isolate u1; cbs 132820), fusarium incarnatum (isolate u2; cbs 132821), and penicillium polonicum (isol...

Literature on hydrocarbon degradation in extreme hypersaline media presents studies that point to a negative effect of salinity increase on hydrocarbonoclastic activity, while several others report an opposite tendency. Based on information available in the literature, we present a discussion on the reasons that justify these contrary results. Despite the fact that microbial ability to metaboli...

The genus Nocardiopsis is a widespread group within the phylum Actinobacteria and has been isolated from various salty environments worldwide. However, little is known about whether biogeography affects Nocardiopsis distribution in various hypersaline environments. Such information is essential for understanding the ecology of Nocardiopsis. Here we analyzed 16S rRNA, gyrB, rpoB and sodA genes o...

Hypersaline environments encompass aquatic and terrestrial habitats. While only a limited number of studies on the microbial diversity of saline soils have been carried out, hypersaline lakes and marine salterns have been thoroughly investigated, resulting in an aquatic-biased knowledge about life in hypersaline environments. To improve our understanding of the assemblage of microbes thriving i...

Halophiles are salt-loving organisms that inhabit hypersaline environments and are well equipped to balance the osmotic pressure of the environment and resist the denaturing effects of salts. Halophiles can be grouped as slightly, moderately or extremely halophilic, depending on their requirement for NaCl. Moderately halophilic bacteria are microorganisms able to grow optimally in media contain...

Although hypersaline environments pose challenges to life because of the low water content (water activity), many such habitats appear to support eukaryotic microbes. This contribution presents brief reviews of our current knowledge on eukaryotes of water-column haloclines and brines from Deep Hypersaline Anoxic Basins (DHABs) of the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as shallow-water hypersaline m...