Genome sequence of carboxylesterase, carboxylase and xylose isomerase producing alkaliphilic haloarchaeon Haloterrigena turkmenica WANU15

AbstractWe report draft genome sequence of Haloterrigena turkmenica strain WANU15, isolated from Soda Lake. The draft genome size is 2,950,899bp with a G+C content of 64% and contains 49 RNA sequence. The genome sequence can be accessed at DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank under the accession no. LKCV00000000

Characterization of Polyhydroxybutyrate, PHB, Synthesized by Newly Isolated Haloarchaea Halolamina spp.

This work aims to characterize the haloarchaeal diversity of unexplored environmental salty samples from a hypersaline environment on the southern coast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, looking for new isolates able to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Thus, the list of PHA producers has been extended by describing two species of Halolamina; Halolamina sediminis sp. strain NRS_35 and unclassified Halolamina sp. strain NRS_38. The growth and PHA-production were investigated in the presence of different carbon sources, (glucose, sucrose, starch, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and glycerol), pH values, (5–9), temperature ranges (4–65 °C), and NaCl concentrations (100–350 g L−1). Fourier-transform infra-red analysis (FT-IR) and Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) were used for qualitative identification of the biopolymer. The highest yield of PHB was 33.4% and 27.29% by NRS_35 and NRS_38, respectively, using starch as a carbon source at 37 °C, pH 7, and 25% NaCl (w/v). The FT-IR pattern indicated sharp peaks formed around 1628.98 and 1629.28 cm−1, which confirmed the presence of the carbonyl group (C=O) on amides and related to proteins, which is typical of PHB. LC-MS/MS analysis displayed peaks at retention times of 5.2, 7.3, and 8.1. This peak range indicates the occurrence of PHB and its synthetic products: Acetoacetyl-CoA and PHB synthase (PhaC). In summary, the two newly isolated Halolamina species showed a high capacity to produce PHB using different sources of carbon. Further research using other low-cost feedstocks is needed to improve both the quality and quantity of PHB production. With these results, the use of haloarchaea as cell factories to produce PHAs is reinforced, and light is shed on the global concern about replacing plastics with biodegradable polymers.This work was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, under Grant no. (UJ-02-015-ICGR)

Phylogeny and functional diversity of halophilic microbial communities from a thalasso environment

The El-Rawda solar saltern, located in North Sinai, Egypt, is formed through the process of water evaporation from the Bradawil lagoon. This evaporation leads to the precipitation of gypsum, halite minerals, and salt flats, which subsequently cover the southern and eastern areas of the lagoon. This study employed the shotgun metagenomic approach, the illumine platform, and bioinformatic tools to investigate the taxonomic composition and functional diversity of halophilic microbial communities in solar saltern. The metagenomic reads obtained from the brine sample exhibited a greater count compared to those from the sediment sample. Notably, the brine sample was primarily characterized by an abundance of archaea, while the sediment sample displayed a dominant abundance of bacteria. Both samples exhibited a relatively low abundance of eukaryotes, while viruses were only found in the brine sample. Furthermore, the comparative analysis of functional pathways showed many important processes related to central metabolism and protein processing in brine and sediment samples. In brief, this research makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of very halophilic ecosystems in Egypt, providing insights into their microbial biodiversity and functional processes

PYROSEQUENCING AND FUNCTIONAL ANNOTATION ANALYSIS OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITY IN FRESH WATER LAKE IN SAUDI ARABIA

Metagenomics is providing conspicuous advantage to explore world of unculturable microorganisms in the natural samples to enhance our information about bacterial diversity. Here, we have performed metagenomic analysis of fresh water lake with focus on bacterial community using 454 pyrosequencing techniques. Roche GS FLX software indicated total of 156.253 reads; 15.226 contigs having > 100 bp sequence length whereas 10.481 contigs with > 500 bp sequence length. We have analyzed the bacterial community composition using BLASTN/BLASTX against NT/NR databases with E-value cutoff of 10-5. We have observed a wide array of bacteria from phylum proteobacteria and family Enterobacteriaceae as well as very few viruses from Podoviridae, Siphoviridae and unclassified phages. Moreover, a functional analysis of all 5974 contigs using Rapid Annotation by Subsystem Technology (RAST) was performed and detected 15.319 coding sequences and 197 RNAs in 619 subsystems. The great diversity of microflora present in the lake may reflect the human activity in the area

Genome sequencing and annotation of Stenotrophomonas sp. SAM8

We report draft genome sequence of Stenotrophomonas sp. strain SAM8, isolated from environmental water. The draft genome size is 3,665,538 bp with a G + C content of 67.2% and contains 6 rRNA sequence (single copies of 5S, 16S & 23S rRNA). The genome sequence can be accessed at DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank under the accession no. LDAV00000000

Genome sequencing and annotation of Proteus sp. SAS71

We report draft genome sequence of Proteus sp. strain SAS71, isolated from water spring in Aljouf region, Saudi Arabia. The draft genome size is 3,037,704 bp with a G + C content of 39.3% and contains 6 rRNA sequence (single copies of 5S, 16S & 23S rRNA). The genome sequence can be accessed at DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank under the accession no. LDIU00000000

Genome sequencing and annotation of Morganella sp. SA36

We report draft genome sequence of Morganella sp. Strain SA36, isolated from water spring in Aljouf region, Saudi Arabia. The draft genome size is 2,564,439 bp with a G + C content of 51.1% and contains 6 rRNA sequence (single copies of 5S, 16S & 23S rRNA). The genome sequence can be accessed at DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank under the accession no. LDNQ00000000

Characterization of bioplastics produced by haloarchaeon Haloarcula sp strain NRS20 using cost-effective carbon sources

As good models for developing techniques, Haloarchaea are using as cell factories to produce a considerable concentration of bioplastics, polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), and polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV). In this study, low-cost carbon sources by Sudan Black staining was applied for screening haloarchaea a hypersaline environment (southern coast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia). The growth of the selected isolate and PHB-production under different carbon sources, temperature, pH values and NaCl concentrations were investigated. The biopolymer was extracted and quantitatively measured. The biopolymer was qualitatively identified by Fourier-transform infra-red analysis (FTIR) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The potential Haloarcula sp strain NRS20 (MZ520352) could significantly accumulate PHB under nutrient-limiting conditions using different carbon sources including starch, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), sucrose, glucose and glycerol with 23.83%, 14%, 11%, 12% and 8% of PHB/CDW respectively under 25% NaCl (w/v), pH 7, at 37 °C. The results of FTIR pattern indicated that the significant peak at 1709.22 cm ^−1 confirmed the presence of the ester carbonyl-group (C=O) which is typical of PHB. HPLC analysis indicated that produced PHB was detected at 7.5 min with intensity exceeding the standard PHB at 8.0 min. Few potential species of haloarchaea were reported for economical PHB-production, here, Haloarcula sp strain NRS20 showed high content of PHB, exhibited a promising PHB-producer using inexpensive sources of carbon