Title: Adaptation to Life at High Salt Concentrations in Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya
Publisher: Springer
Publication Date: 2005
Language: English
ISBN 10: 1402036329
ISBN 13: 9781402036323
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Salt is an essential requirement of life. Already from ancient times (e. g. , see the books of the Bible) its importance in human life has been known. For example, salt symbolizes destruction (as in Sodom and Gomorra), but on the other hand it has been an ingredient of every sacrifice during the Holy Temple periods. Microbial life in concentrated salt solutions has fascinated scientists since its discovery. Recently there have been several international meetings and books devoted entirely to halophiles. This book includes the proceedings of the "Halophiles 2004" conference held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in September 2004 (www. u- lj. si/~bfbhaloph/index. html). This meeting was attended by 120 participants from 25 countries. The editors have selected presentations given at the meeting for this volume, and have also invited a number of contributions from experts who had not been present in Ljubljana. This book complements "Halophilic Microorganisms", edited by A. Ventosa and published by Springer-Verlag (2004), "Halophilic Microorganism and their Environments" by A. Oren (2002), published by Kluwer Academic Publishers as volume 5 of "Cellular Origins, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology" (COLE), and "Microbiology and Biogeochemistry of Hypersaline Environments" edited by A. Oren, and published by CRC Press, Boca Raton (1999). Salt-loving (halophilic) microorganisms grow in salt solutions above seawater salinity (~3. 5% salt) up to saturation ranges (i. e. , around 35% salt). High concentrations of salt occur in natural environments (e. g.

Review

Review byChristopher Rensing entitled "Adriatic get-together produces salt-lovers delight"
Saline Systems 2005, 1:6 doi: 10.1186/1746-1448-1-6
Publication date: 17 August 2005

Starting a new on-line journal such as Saline Systems presents the opportunity for editors and potential readers to familiarize themselves with recent ongoing research in this rather broad field. What better way to begin than to summarize new results and developments presented at a well-attended and received scientific meeting? This is the idea behind "Adaptations to life at high salt concentrations in Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya" which explores the many-fold aspects of life under these extreme conditions. The book was initiated at an international conference "Halophiles 2004" in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in September 2004 organized by Nina Gunde-Cimerman and Ana Plemenitas, a conference which has been held roughly every three years since 1978 (see http://salinesystems.org/content/1/1/6/figures/F1). The first conference was held in Rehovot/Israel and organized by Roy Caplan and Margaret Ginzburg. A comparison of topics covered by conferences on halophilic microorganisms twenty years ago and more recently reflects how rapidly this field has expanded. The 34 chapters capture the current breadth of the field and illustrate the versatility of these microorganisms. Halophilic environments extend from the Great Salt Lake to the Dead Sea but also to unexpected environments such as arctic regions, deep-sea hypersaline brines and possibly habitats in outer space. The study of extremophiles might also give clues for a better understanding of the origin of life here on earth but possibly also elsewhere hence the link to exobiology explored by Joseph Seckbach and Rocco Mancinelli in this volume.

If one were to give out last years Oscars for salt-lovers, "Two square off" would certainly take home the honor. In my and certainly also the media's opinion, the cultivation and initial characterization of Walsby's square archaeon was a major accomplishment. Henk Bolhuis' fun to read article certainly succeeds in capturing the fascination of this seemingly strange but widespread microbe. How did he finally manage to get a hold on 'Haloquadratum walsbyi', nothing fancy, just using agarose instead of agar plates. Seemingly simple, it certainly hides many frustrating hours spent in the lab. Another successful strategy was employed by David Burns out of Mike Dyall-Smith's lab using dilution cultures in natural saltern water with just a few supplements. Interestingly, they both managed to observe large sheets of Walsby's square archaeon, measuring approximately 40 x40�m. If these structures constitute single cells, or readily dissolve into multiple square components under the conditions used by D. Burns, this will certainly be an area of future studies.

Studying microbial communities in the natural environment is inherently difficult due to technical and biological aspects. One advantage of microbial ecology studies in extreme environments is the relatively low diversity of the respective microbial communities. It is therefore not surprising that this invitation to study the diversity and composition in hypersaline environments was followed up by a number of scientists and the results from Great Salt Lake, the Dead Sea, salterns in California and Spain and ancient salt deposits summarized here. In addition, often neglected predators such as Haloviruses or Protozoa feeding on halophilic archaea and bacteria are not only described but also evaluated on their impact on microbial communities in three chapters.

The physiology of halophilic and halotolerant organisms is also covered in great detail and insight in this volume. How do they do this, how can any organism survive under these conditions? To survive and thrive in a hypersaline environment, microorganisms needed to develop mechanisms of osmoadaptation and salt tolerance. In nature, different solutions brought about by convergent evolution to a low water activity environment can be found in various organisms able to withstand high salt conditions. Not only haloarchaea, as initially thought, but also bacteria accumulate high internal concentrations of potassium and chloride. An important, environmentally relevant representative, Salinibacter ruber, is described in detail from a genomic and environmental perspective. Another surprising aspect of the physiology of some halophiles is their requirement for chloride. A more detailed account is given in an interesting chapter on chloride requirement in moderately halophilic bacteria by Volker M�ller and Stefan Saum. Their initial hypothesis for the necessity of chloride is not as counterion as one might intuitively believe but as an inducer for a novel regulatory network. However, if that were true, wouldn't one expect mutants in the signaling pathway without a requirement for chloride?

Transcriptional regulation in haloarchaea was also described using gas vesicle synthesis as an example. We are clearly only at the beginning of understanding the largely unexplored interplay between bacterial-like repressors and an eukaryae-like transcription machinery. This, I believe, is one of the surprises from the recent or on-going genome sequencing efforts. Brian Berquist and coworkers provide a genome-wide COG-based inventory of regulators, basal transcriptional machinery, and DNA replication and repair systems in the two completely sequenced haloarchaea, Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 and Haloarcula marismortui. This showed nearly all the regulators to be bacterial, along with a few (laterally transferred?) components of the DNA replication and repair systems. These aspects of haloarchaeal genetics are likely to be the subject of significant interest in the near future.

Ana Plemenitas, Nina Gunde-Cimerman and their respective group members have to be commended for their Herculean effort setting the record straight on fungal response to low water activity and their contribution and impact in hypersaline environments in three extensive and well-researched chapters.

Is this a book worth having: by all means YES! Overall it contains a wealth of information that is really useful having as a resource. In addition, research strategies and thoughtful discussions are presented in chapters such as Diversity of Microbial Communities: The Case of Solar Salterns by Carlos Pedros-Alio. This methodology is often at least as important as mere facts and findings, especially for the hopefully intended target audience of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Store Description

We sell Brand New University Textbooks to students at very affordable prices. All orders are shipped by Trackable methods only and the tracking number is available within 48 hours of placing the order. We also offer free shipping to USA, Canada and Europe and lowest shipping charges in other countries. We have multiple warehouses to save on the transit time.

Visit Seller's Storefront

Seller's business information

SMASS Group LLC
1944 Loma Linda Dr, Irving, TX, 75063, U.S.A.

Sale & Shipping Terms

Terms of Sale

We sell Brand New Textbooks requied for studies in the Univesity. We have been in this business for the past 14 years and we know how to keep our customers happy and satisfies by providing them the required course material and the most affordable prices.

Right of cancellation

If you are a consumer you can cancel the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.

INFORMATION REGARDING THE RIGHT OF CANCELLATION

Statutory Right to cancel

You have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The cancellation period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the the last good or the last lot or piece.

To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us, SMASS Sellers, 1944 LOMA LINDA DR., 75063-3924, IRVING, Texas, U.S.A., +1 4699865502, of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax or e-mail). You may use the attached model cancellation form, but it is not obligatory. You can also electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". If you use this option, we will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a cancellation on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.

To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired.

Effects of cancellation

If you cancel this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).

We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.

We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel with contract.

We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.

You shall send back the goods or hand them over to us or SMASS Sellers, 1944 LOMA LINDA DR., 75063-3924, IRVING, Texas, U.S.A., +1 4699865502, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your cancellation from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.

Exceptions to the right of cancellation

The right of cancellation does not apply to:

the delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
the supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not cancel it once delivery had started.

Model withdrawal form

(complete and return this form only if you wish to withdraw from the contract)

To: (SMASS Sellers, 1944 LOMA LINDA DR., 75063-3924, IRVING, Texas, U.S.A., +1 4699865502)

I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract of sale of the following goods (*)/for the provision of the following goods (*)/for the provision of the following service (*),

Ordered on (*)/received on (*)

Name of consumer(s)

Address of consumer(s)

Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper)

Date

* Delete as appropriate.

Shipping Terms

We ship all orders from our Multiple warehouses by Tracakble method only. We have tie up with Fedex, DHL, UPS and USPS for our logistics requirements. All tracking numbers are available within 48 hours of processing the order.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.
Order quantity	5 to 10 business days	3 to 6 business days
First item	� 0.00	� 0.00

Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.