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Solar salterns are extreme hypersaline environments that are five to ten times saltier than seawater (150–300 g L−1 salt concentration) and typically contain high numbers of halophiles adapted to tolerate such extreme hypersalinity. Thirty-five halophile cultures of both Bacteria and Archaea were isolated from the Exportadora de Sal saltworks in Guerrero Negro, Baja California, Mexico. 16S rRNA sequence analysis showed that these cultured isolates included members belonging to the Halorubrum, Haloarcula, Halomonas, Halovibrio, Salicola, and Salinibacter genera and what may represent a new archaeal genus. For the first time, metabolic substrate usage of halophile isolates was evaluated using the non-colorimetric BIOLOG Phenotype MicroArray™ plates. Unique carbon substrate usage profiles were observed, even for closely related Halorubrum species, with bacterial isolates using more substrates than archaeal cultures. Characterization of these isolates also included morphology and pigmentation analyses, as well as salinity tolerance over a range of 50–300 g L−1 salt concentration. Salinity optima varied between 50 and 250 g L−1 and doubling times varied between 1 and 12 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade several new genera have been isolated in alkaline and halophile growth conditions. The studies conducted in the Texcoco Lake soils have shown a generalized microbial adaptation to the specific conditions. In this research work, morphological and phylogenetic characterization of the HN31(22) strain that was isolated from the cited soil is presented. The strain was identified as a Gram-positive halophile and alkaline tolerant bacteria from the Nesterenkonia genus, which uses different substrates in metabolic processes., (© 2018 Marisela Yadira Soto-Padilla et al.)