The halophilic archaeal biology and its biotechnology potential

Abstract

Hypersaline environments are distributed worldwide and the microorganisms able to grow in these environments are found in all three domains of life: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. In this review, we addressed the major topics concerning the taxonomic, phylogenetic and biotechnological applications of halophilic Archaea, for example, the production of biopolymers, enzymes and the biodegradation of toxic compounds. Our research group has been working to describe new halophilic archaeal lineages and to determine the halophilic communities by metagenomic approach from one of largest hypersaline lagoon in the world, localized in Araruama, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil.