About this Research Topic

Background

Halophilic/halotolerant microorganisms thrive under high salt concentrations in soils, deserts, lakes, and foods. Due to their adaptations to extreme conditions, this group of microorganisms has recently been of interest in many fields such as agriculture, medicine, and biotechnology. Consequently, isolations and taxonomic characterizations of these microorganisms and studies with the compounds produced by them have increased. Thanks to these studies, we have obtained more detailed information about halophile diversity, metabolism and tolerance to extreme environmental conditions.

Increasing soil pollution with salt in parallel with population growth shows that people will face the problem of hunger in the future when food demand cannot be met. Thus, strategies to overcome salinity-induced agricultural problems are of vital importance. For example, halophilic/halotolerant microorganisms significantly increase plant growth in saline environments due to their ability to withstand extreme salt conditions. These microorganisms produce plant-active compounds (indole-3-acetic acid, hydrogen cyanide, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate–deaminase, exopolysaccharides), fix atmospheric nitrogen and solubilize plant nutrients such as phosphate.

Halophilic/halotolerant microorganisms also have applications in many different biotechnology fields with their enzymes and some compounds (compatible solutes, antioxidants, antimicrobial metabolites) which they produce. Enzymes include lipases, proteases, esterases, nucleases and hydrolases, which have diverse application in food and pharmaceutical industry, biofuel production, and bioremediation of waste water or contaminated soils. As known, the enzymes of non-halophilic/halotolerant microorganisms are only effective at moderate conditions, however, the enzymes of halophilic/halotolerant microorganisms are active over a broad pH, salt and temperature ranges.

The antioxidants produced by halophilic microorganisms are widely used in different fields as biomedicine and food industry. Moreover, compatible solutes produced by this group of microorganisms also have wide applications in cosmetic and pharmaceutics industries. Compatible solutes have been proven to mitigate desiccation damage, protect protein under harsh circumstances (high and low temperature, oxidative stress etc.), and regulate gene expression (heat shock protein) in keratinocytes.

This Research Topic welcomes submissions of Original Research, Mini-Review, Review, and Perspective articles. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Isolation and characterization of halophilic/halotolerant microorganisms

• Molecular mechanisms involving salt tolerance

• Application of halophilic/halotolerant microorganisms in agriculture

• Enzymes of halophilic/halotolerant microorganisms and their applications in food industry, biofuel production, bioremediation etc.

• Compatible solutes produced by halophilic/halotolerant microorganisms and clarification of physico-chemical properties and structure analysis of compatible solutes

Keywords: halophile, halotolerant, structure, characterization, compounds

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