RT Journal
A1 Baliga, Nitin S.
A1 Bonneau, Richard
A1 Facciotti, Marc T.
A1 Pan, Min
A1 Glusman, Gustavo
A1 Deutsch, Eric W.
A1 Shannon, Paul
A1 Chiu, Yulun
A1 Weng, Rueyhung Sting
A1 Gan, Rueichi Richie
A1 Hung, Pingliang
A1 Date, Shailesh V.
A1 Marcotte, Edward
A1 Hood, Leroy
A1 Ng, Wailap Victor
T1 Genome sequence of Haloarcula marismortui: A halophilic archaeon from the Dead Sea
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2004 
FD November 01 
VO 14 
IS 11 
SP 2221 
OP 2234 
DO 10.1101/gr.2700304 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/14/11/2221.abstract 
AB We report the complete sequence of the 4,274,642-bp genome of Haloarcula marismortui, a halophilic archaeal isolate from the Dead Sea. The genome is organized into nine circular replicons of varying G+C compositions ranging from 54% to 62%. Comparison of the genome architectures of Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 and H. marismortui suggests a common ancestor for the two organisms and a genome of significantly reduced size in the former. Both of these halophilic archaea use the same strategy of high surface negative charge of folded proteins as means to circumvent the salting-out phenomenon in a hypersaline cytoplasm. A multitiered annotation approach, including primary sequence similarities, protein family signatures, structure prediction, and a protein function association network, has assigned putative functions for at least 58% of the 4242 predicted proteins, a far larger number than is usually achieved in most newly sequenced microorganisms. Among these assigned functions were genes encoding six opsins, 19 MCP and/or HAMP domain signal transducers, and an unusually large number of environmental response regulators—nearly five times as many as those encoded in Halobacterium sp. NRC-1—suggesting H. marismortui is significantly more physiologically capable of exploiting diverse environments. In comparing the physiologies of the two halophilic archaea, in addition to the expected extensive similarity, we discovered several differences in their metabolic strategies and physiological responses such as distinct pathways for arginine breakdown in each halophile. Finally, as expected from the larger genome, H. marismortui encodes many more functions and seems to have fewer nutritional requirements for survival than does Halobacterium sp. NRC-1.