Taxonomy of halophilic archaea: a review

Abstract:

Halophilic archaea are archaea required high concentrations of salt for growth. Up to date, all the halophilic archaea belong to the phylum Euryarchaeota of the domain Archaea. Currently, halophilic archaea consist of halophilic methanogenic archaea, all members of the class Halobacteria and uncultured “Nanohaloarchaea”. Halophilic archaea are the native microorganisms inhabited in saline environments, which involved in various biogeochemical cycles in saline ecosystem. As a group of extremophiles, halophilic archaea were involved in the theoretical and applied researches. From the aspects of the taxonomic status change, taxonomic methods, current status and the taxonomic study of halophilic archaea in China, the recent advances in the classification and identification of halophilic archaea were summarized in this review.