Abstract
This study was undertaken to identify exopolysaccharide-producing bacteria gathered from 18 hypersaline habitats. Phenotypic studies performed with 134 isolates revealed the majority of them to be Gram-negative rods with respiratory metabolism, belonging to the genus Halomonas. A numerical analysis of the 114 phenotypic data showed that at an 80% similarity level most of the strains (121) could be grouped into six phenotypic groups. Phenon A included 25 new isolates and the reference strain of Halomonas eurihalina, and phenon B was formed by 77 new isolates and Halomonas maura. Phenon C was also related to H. maura although to a lesser extent than strains in group B. Three phena (D, E, and F) could not be grouped with any of the reference strains and may represent new taxa; their G + C contents and DNA-DNA hybridization data corroborated this hypothesis. Results of this work proved that the most abundant halophilic species EPS producer in hypersaline habitats was H. maura, followed by H. eurihalina.
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Martínez-Cánovas, ., Quesada, ., Martínez-Checa, . et al. A Taxonomic Study to Establish the Relationship between Exopolysaccharide-Producing Bacterial Strains Living in Diverse Hypersaline Habitats. Curr Microbiol 48, 348–353 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-003-4208-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-003-4208-0