Journal of Microbiological Methods 166 (2019) 105704

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Journal of Microbiological Methods

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmicmeth

Review

Halophile, an essential platform for bioproduction T

a,1 a,1 a a a
Changli Liu , Dennis Kingsley Baffoe , Yuanlong Zhan , Mengying Zhang , Yahui Li ,
⁎
Guocai Zhangb,
a
Key Laboratory of Saline-alkali Vegetation Ecology Restoration, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
b
School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, No. 26 Hexing Road, Harbin 150040, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Industrial biotechnology aims to compete as a stronger alternative ensuring environmental friendly microbial-
Halophiles based production that seeks to curb the predicament of pollution. However, the high cost of bioprocessing is a
Low-cost bioproducts severe drawback, and therefore, new approaches must be developed to overcome this challenge. Halophiles have
Industrial biotechnology shown potentials of overcoming this challenge and are of much preference for unsterile and continuous con-
Engineering technologies
tamination-free bioprocess due to their unique ability to grow under harsh environmental conditions. Recent
PHA
advances in genetic manipulations have been established to better the performance of halophiles for industrial
applications. Many researchers produced various products such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), ectoines,
biosurfactants, and antioxidants using halophiles, and further efforts have been established to develop halophiles
as the foundation for low-cost bioprocess. This paper provides a useful reference for researchers on the merits,
drawbacks, achievements, and application of halophiles for bioproduction.

1. Introduction (open) and continuous fermentation process to occur (Yue et al., 2014).
Also, several response mechanisms of halophiles under high-salinity
Industrial biotechnology has significantly developed in the past conditions produce various valuable biomolecules, and over the past
years aiming to produce chemicals, materials, and biofuels on a large few decades, halophiles have been considered for biotechnological
scale using sustainable resources for partially replacing petroleum- applications (Waditee-Sirisattha et al., 2016). Recently, Halophiles
based chemical industry. However, bio-based products by industrial have undergone genetic manipulations to allow the production of a
biotechnology processes are too expensive as compared to the industrial wide range of products (Fu et al., 2014). Halophiles have been re-
chemical products, due to the high cost of production. Intensive ster- cognized as significant sources of stable enzymes that function in very
ilization process, heavy consumption of freshwater, batch fermentation, high salinity, an extreme condition that results in denaturation and
high consumption of raw chemical materials, and requirement of aggregation of most proteins (DasSarma and DasSarma, 2015). Also,
stainless steel fermentors and piping systems, etc., all contribute to the many halophiles are found to be able to accumulate polyhydroxyalk-
high cost of production, therefore, making it not competitive (Wang anoates (PHA), a family of biodegradable plastics.
et al., 2014; Yue et al., 2014; Yin et al., 2015). In order to make in- Furthermore, halophiles are capable of producing bioactive com-
dustrial biotechnology as competitive as chemical industry, there is a pounds, chemicals, and different enzymes for biotechnological use.
need to develop a competitive method of approaching bio-based pro- Some of the bioactive compounds show different activities and have
duction which will ensure energy and time saving, low freshwater been used as antioxidant, sunscreen, and antibiotics (Hosseini Tafreshi
consumption, low cost of substrates and contamination-free continuous and Shariati, 2009; Chen et al., 2014; Waditee-Sirisattha et al., 2014).
fermentation process. Numerous studies on their capabilities to synthesize massive amounts of
Halophiles are capable of the aforementioned desirable properties chemicals such as ectoine, hydroxyectoines, glycine, and betaine have
(Wang et al., 2014). Many Halophiles are alkaliphilic and can grow in shed light on the production of useful stabilizers of biomolecules and
high NaCl. Combination of these alkaliphilic and halophilic properties stress-protective agents (Pastor et al., 2010). Moreover, many halo-
provide natural contamination-free, allowing a possible unsterile philes can also produce biosurfactants and bio-emulsifiers (Satpute

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C. Liu), baff[email protected] (D.K. Baffoe), [email protected] (Y. Zhan),
[email protected] (M. Zhang), [email protected] (Y. Li), [email protected] (G. Zhang).
1
Both authors contributed equally.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mimet.2019.105704
Received 22 June 2019; Received in revised form 25 July 2019; Accepted 27 August 2019
Available online 05 September 2019
0167-7012/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
C. Liu, et al. Journal of Microbiological Methods 166 (2019) 105704

et al., 2010). Thus, halophiles have broad biotechnological applications

Putri and Hertadi (2015)

Waditee-Sirisattha et al.
and the Halomonas sp., for example, have been candidates for the

Tanimura et al. (2013)

Rajkumar et al. (2011)

Schiraldi et al. (2006)
Rivera-Terceros et al.

Prakash et al. (2009)

Zhu and Jiang, 2008
production of various products used in various industries.

Zhang et al. (2009)

Uzyol et al. (2012)

León et al. (2005)
Don et al. (2006)
Tan et al. (2011)
This review encapsulates contemporary progress of halophiles and
achievements gathered using them for bio-production with the ad-
Reference

vantage of low energy consumption, less substrates consumption, con-

(2015)

(2015)
tinuous and unsterile production, and low capital investment yielding
in competitive and low-cost production. It also sheds light on recent
genetic modifications developed for halophiles to improve their yield of
Sterile −80 g/L(80%PHB), Unsterile (1st fermentor) – 40 g/L(60%PHB), Unsterile

production.

2. Background of halophiles

Halophiles are a group of microscopic organisms that can grow and

develop in high salt (NaCl) concentration areas. They are typically ca-
tegorized as slight, moderate, or extreme according to the extent of
their halotolerance (Ollivier et al., 1994). Halophiles can be found in
6.9 gl−1 ectoine conc., 7.9 gl−1d−1 productivity

Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya (Quillaguamán et al., 2010). The me-

tabolic diversity of halophiles includes oxygenic and anoxygenic pho-
totrophs, aerobic heterotrophs, fermenters, denitrifiers, sulfate re-
333 mmol/kg fresh cell weight of ectoine
(2nd fermentor) – 40 g/L(65% –0%PHB)

ducers, and methanogens (Oren, 2002).

In order to survive high salt concentration, halophiles make use of
two distinct adaptive mechanisms. The first mechanism is the accu-
250 U/mL, 190 U/mL, 61 U/mL
53.33% EI24, 48.44 mg/L CMC
~1.6 folds 29.5 μmol GB/Gfw

mulation and synthesizing of compatible solutes, which act as stabi-

61% (wt) PHB, 8.1 g/L CDW

85.8 g/L CDW, 48.6% PHB

lizers or shock and stress absorbers in the cell (Mokashe et al., 2018).
The compatible solutes stabilize biological structures to help the cells
adapt to high salt, desiccation, heat, cold, and even freezing conditions.
26.25 U/mL/min
1.6 g/L, 3.6 g/L

This Organic-osmolyte mechanism is widespread in bacteria and me-

10.4 g/g Chl

thanogenic archaea.
2081 U/g
30 mg/L

Another more radical adaptation mechanism is the controlling of

Yield

high salt levels by the influx of potassium (K+) ions into the cytoplasm
of the cell to balance osmotic pressure (Williams, 2014). In exchange,
> 10% dissolved oxygen, Microfiltration

sodium (Na+) ions are freed out of the cytoplasm relatively. This Salt-
Hydrolyzed starch, a mixture of glucose

Sugarcane bagasse, Wheat bran, Xylan

in-cytoplasm mechanism is employed by a wide variety of extremely

10 mM NaHCO3, Bio-photoreactor

halophilic archaea for osmoregulation, and also by fermenting bacteria,

acetogenic bacteria, and sulfate reducers. Halophiles which use this
mechanism adapt the interior protein chemistry of their cells to high
Monosodium glutamate

10 μg/mL Norflurazon

salt concentration by raising the salt concentration in the cytoplasm

18 mM NaNO3, CO2

similar to that of the surrounding environment; this strategy is to

Peptone, Starch
Energy source

achieve a thermodynamic adjustment of the cell.

Wheat Bran
and xylose

bioprocess

Properties of halophilic microorganisms (such as the ability to uti-

Glycerol
Glucose

Glucose

lize seawater and mixed substrates and grow at high pH) and their
Xylose

negatively charged enzymes make them potentially very useful for in-
dustrial biotechnology. Also, biomolecules from halophiles, including
Chromohalobcter sp. TPSV 101
Pseudomonas stutzeri BK-AB12

enzymes, carotenoid pigments, biopolymers, bacteriorhodopsin, and

Halomonas salina DSM 5928

halocins, can be applied biotechnologically. Halophiles may also be of

Aphanothece halophytica
Specific halophilic microorganisms and their yield of production.

Haloferax mediterranei

great worth for bioremediation and biofermentation processes, and

Halomonas boliviensis

Halomonas sp. AAD2

Halomonas sp. TD01

Halomonas elongata

Dunaliella bardawil
Marinococcus M52

Bacillus sp. RRM1

other novel applications in medicine and agriculture.

Dunaliella salina

3. Application of halophiles
Halophile

Halophiles have broad biotechnological applications ranging from

agriculture to biomedical, and various studies have shown that halo-
Hydroxyectoine

Glycine betaine

philes are essential in industrial biotechnology production. Carotenoids

such β-carotene produced from green alga Dunaliella was applied in
β-Carotene

α-amylase
Phytoene

Xylanase
Protease
Ectoine
Ectoine

food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries for the production of

food colorant, cosmetic additives, and multivitamin respectively (Oren,
2010). Biopolymers can be used as emulsifiers and thickeners and have
Antioxidants (Carotenoids)

been applied in an industrial process such as exopolysaccharides which

are functional in textile, food, pharmaceutical, and petroleum in-
Hydrolytic enzymes
Compatible solutes

dustries (Delgado-García et al., 2015). Bacteriorhodopsin possesses a

photochromic property and can potentially be applied in industrial
Biosurfactants

biotechnology for holography, artificial retina, spatial light modulators,

Product

computer memories, and optical memories elaboration material

Table 1

PHA

(Delgado-García et al., 2015). Halocins are natural antibiotics and have

the potential of being used as myocardial protector and control of

2
C. Liu, et al. Journal of Microbiological Methods 166 (2019) 105704

infectious bacteria in medicine and pharmaceutical industries, and unsterile and continuous conditions at 40 g/L NaCl, 37 °C and pH 10
preserving agents in food and leather industries as well. Furthermore, (Yue et al., 2014). Koller et al. (2007) reported that the cost of PHBV
an evident process such as the production of ectoine (1,4,5,6-tetra- production by H. mediterranei was 30% lower than that of recombinant
hydro-2-methyl-4-pyrimidinecarboxylic acid) from moderately halo- E. coli, making halophiles essential for low-cost production of PHA.
philic bacteria was used as a stabilizer for enzymes and applied in In addition, PHA accumulation has been recently identified as a
cosmetic industries (Oren, 2010). strategy which protects bacterial cells from hypertonic environments
Some products from halophiles are listed below with a table illus- (Obruca et al., 2017) and also from fluctuations in osmolarity (Sedlacek
trating specific halophiles and their yield of production (Table 1). et al., 2019) which indicates that PHA accumulation is additional
adaptation strategy towards high salinity of the environment. Again,
3.1. Production of PHA by halophiles the usage of co-production of high market value products such as
compatible solutes, pigments, etc., has been developed to tackle the
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are the most versatile bioplastics that high cost of producing PHA on a large scale (Kumar and Kim, 2018).
have similar properties with petroleum-based plastics (Chen, 2009). As
a family of biodegradable and biocompatible polyester, PHA could be 3.2. Production of compatible solutes from halophiles
developed into an industrial value chain ranging from bioplastics,
biofuels, and chemicals to synthetic implants (Chen, 2009; Chen and Ectoines are the most common compatible solutes which are com-
Patel, 2011). Pötter and Steinbüchel (2005) considered PHA as en- mercially available as protectants for mammalian cells, DNA, and
vironmentally friendly substitutes for petroleum-based plastics. How- proteins (Kolp et al., 2006; Pastor et al., 2010). Oren (2010) reported
ever, the cost of producing PHA is still relatively high due to the ectoine to have been discovered first in the haloalkaliphilic photo-
complexity of the fermentation process and the search for value-added synthetic sulfur bacterium, Ectothiorhodospira halochloris, but later a
applications such as biomedical and fine chemicals (Chen, 2009; Rehm, great variety of halophilic and halotolerant bacteria were found to
2010). Therefore, PHA could be developed as environmentally friendly produce this compound, often together with its 5-hydroxy derivative.
bulk plastics, provided the production cost is low and competitive Many halophiles accumulate these compatible solutes within their cells
(Chen, 2010; Rehm, 2010). to maintain osmotic balance under hyperosmotic conditions (Yin et al.,
Halophiles have been exploited and observed to synthesize PHA 2015). Ectoines can also protect many unstable enzymes and nucleic
(Koller et al., 2007). Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and Poly (3-hy- acids against the harmful action of high salinity, thermal denaturing,
droxybutyrate-co-3 hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) are the two most studied desiccation, and freezing, thus, increasing shelf life and activity of en-
polymers of PHA among > 100 various kinds of PHA and also produced zyme preparation (Kolp et al., 2006). Such compatible solutes have
in large scale (Chen, 2009). PHBV is, however, more flexible as com- found applications in industrial biotechnology. Recent studies claim
pared to PHB which is rigid and brittle, therefore possessed more fa- that ectoine counteracts effects of ultraviolet UV-A-induced and ac-
vorable thermomechanical properties for broader application potentials celerated aging and therefore added to dermatological cosmetic pre-
as medical materials, film products, disposables, and packaging mate- parations by cosmetic industries as moisturizers in cosmetics for caring
rials (Philip et al., 2007; Chen, 2009). Among the PHA producing ha- for dry, irritated and aged skin (Oren, 2010). Ectoines stimulate the
lophiles, haloarchaea are the most important group of highly ex- immune system of the Langerhans cells and the formation of heat shock
tremophilic PHA producers (Koller, 2019). Haloferax mediterranei is so proteins, thereby reducing the formation of sunburn cells in the skin
far one of the best-studied PHA producers from the Halobacteriaceae due to UV radiation (Buenger and Driller, 2004). Ectoines were tested
family, and it produced 48.6 wt% PHB (Don et al., 2006). Further stu- to have the ability to inhibit aggregation and neurotoxicity of Alzhei-
dies also revealed that H. mediterranei synthesized PHA which was a mer's β–amyloid (Kanapathipillai et al., 2005). Various studies have
copolymer of PHBV using glucose, extruded starch or hydrolyzed whey applied technology of osmotic downshock termed as “bacterial milking”
as substrates, and several halophilic strains were also reported to syn- for extracting intracellular solutes from several microorganisms (Kunte
thesize PHBV from non-fatty acid carbohydrates as a carbon source et al., 2014). Nagata et al. (2008) grew Halomonas elongata in a high salt
(Han et al., 2013). medium in order to accumulate higher amounts of intracellular ectoine;
Moreover, (Quillaguamán et al., 2008) reported PHA production by then an osmotic downshock was applied. The bacterium reacts by se-
a moderate halophilic strain, Halomonas boliviensis. This halophile from creting most of the ectoine to the surrounding medium, followed by
family Halomonadaceae tolerates salt concentration of 0–25% and crossflow filtration techniques to collect the compound and then pur-
grows from 0 to 45 °C under pH 6–11. The strain could accumulate PHB ified. Salt was then added to the medium to cause readaptation by the
from several different carbon sources such as glucose, xylose, sucrose, bacterium to the high salinity by producing massive ectoine; therefore,
maltooligosaccharides, sodium acetate, and butyric acid and could also a new cycle for ectoine synthesis (milking procedure) could restart.
produce PHB with a molecular weight of 1100 kDa under its optimized Fallet et al. (2010) also applied continuous bioprocessing for ectoine
conditions (Quillaguamán et al., 2008; Van-Thuoc et al., 2008). Halo- production where they developed a two-bioreactor system and opti-
philic strains Halomonas sp. TD01 and Halomonas sp. LS21 were re- mized the productivity of ectoine in Chromohalobacter salexigens. The
cently isolated, and they showed great potential for low-cost PHA first bioreactor was used to grow cells and accumulate intracellular
production. TD01 was reported to grow optimally at a salt concentra- ectoine, while the second bioreactor was used for osmotic downshock
tion of 5–6% (w/v) at pH of 9.0 and the strain also grew to over 80 g/L to excrete ectoine. The culture broth of the first bioreactor was pumped
cell dry weight (CDW) in a lab fermentor and accumulated over 80% continuous into the second one, and the intracellular ectoine content
PHB on glucose salt (GS) medium. However, TD01 accumulated PHB up reached up to 540 mg.
70 wt% CDW with glucose to PHB conversion ratio of over 50% on Another compatible solute which has attracted commercial interest
glucose nitrogen-deficient GS medium, indicating that a nitrogen lim- is hydroxyectoine due to its better protection abilities than ectoine
itation is beneficial for PHB production by TD01 (Tan et al., 2011). (Pastor et al., 2010). Marinococcus M52, a Gram-positive halophilic
Halomonas campaniensis was also isolated, and it was able to grow in eubacterium showed a more rapid accumulation of hydroxyectoine
artificial seawater and kitchen waste as substrates consisting of cellu- (with hydroxyectoine up to 1.6 g/L) as a result of dissolved oxygen
lose, proteins, fats, fatty acids, and starch. After culturing in kitchen content higher than 10% during cultivation. Also, a microfiltration
waste simulating (KS) medium, wild-type H. campaniensis produced bioprocess was employed to improve biomass and yield of products
only 26 wt% PHB, while recombinant H. campaniensis (with genes of (reaching 3.6 g/L of hydroxyectoine), and a novel extraction method
PHB synthesis pathway over-expressed) produced 70 wt% PHB. Halo- based on osmotic down-shock coupled with thermal permeabilization
monas campaniensis grew contamination free throughout 65 days under was developed to recover the desired products from the biomass

3
C. Liu, et al. Journal of Microbiological Methods 166 (2019) 105704

(Schiraldi et al., 2006). However, it is possible to express the genes for mesophila, and Nesterenkonia sp. (Govender et al., 2009; Guo et al.,
ectoine in E. coli or other non-halophilic bacteria and use such re- 2009; Menon et al., 2010). Xylanases are stable at pH 6–11 and tem-
combinant bacteria as a source for the compound. For example, a perature above 60 °C (Ren et al., 2013). They are alkalostable and
transgenic E. coli with the ectoine operon of Chromohalobacter salexigens thermostable, and they possess the potential to be used for bleaching of
expressed under control of the Tet promoter excreted ectoine, which paper and pulp (Mamo et al., 2009). Cellulases were isolated from
accumulated in the medium at concentrations up to 6 g/L (Schubert Bacillus sp., Halomonas sp., Salinivibrio sp., and from metagenomics li-
et al., 2007). brary of some soil microbial consortia. They were reported to be ther-
Therefore, engineering halophiles have proven favorable for in- mostable, halostable, and alkalostable, thereby making them favorable
creasing productivity of ectoine and hydroxyectoines. for textile, laundry, and food industries (Aygan and Arikan, 2008; Wang
et al., 2009).
3.3. Production of antioxidants from halophiles Halophilic hydrolases are essential for biotechnological application
under adverse conditions (Delgado-García et al., 2012), and this is due
Halophilic microorganisms possess adaptabilities to survive in ha- to their thermostable ability and adaptability to a wide range of pH
bitats with extremely high salt concentrations. One of these adapt- (Enache and Kamekura, 2010).
abilities is the capability of the halophilic Archaea to produce extra-
ordinary colored pigments known as carotenoid compounds to 3.5. Biosurfactants (BS) and bioemulsifiers (BE)
overcome intense UV radiation (Oren, 2013). These colored pigments
were shown to have potent antioxidant, immune-boosting activities, Biosurfactants (BS) and bioemulsifiers (BE) are amphiphilic com-
and likely protecting premature aging (Hosseini Tafreshi and Shariati, pounds from bio-sources (Satpute et al., 2010). They are made up of
2009). Carotenoids are hydrophobic compounds generally consisting of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups and therefore possess both
a C40 hydrocarbon, but the Archaea produce a C50 carotenoid such as water-soluble component and water-insoluble component. Dastgheib
α - bacterioruberin, found in many archaeal strains (Jehlička et al., et al. (2008) investigated BS/BE as potential replacements for chemi-
2013). Halophilic alga, Dunaliella salina has been used for carotenoids cally synthetic surfactants; they have the potential to be applied as
production and its cultivation for the β-carotene production is the detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dis-
major success story of halophile biotechnology (Vachali et al., 2012). persants. Halophiles such as Bacillus sp. BS3 from hypersaline en-
Carotenoids are colorful natural products and therefore use extensively vironments other than marine sites produced BS, which showed po-
as dyes and functional ingredients in food products, including cosmetics tential pharmacological importance by suppressing the replication of
(Hosseini Tafreshi and Shariati, 2009). They are also widely applied in shrimp white spot syndrome virus (Donio et al., 2013).
pharmaceutical and medical fields such as antitumor and heart disease Interestingly, immobilized cells of Natrialba sp. strain E21 was used
prevention agents due to their potent antioxidant and immune-boosting for BS production in continuous fermentation. Cell recovery and re-
properties (Hosseini Tafreshi and Shariati, 2009). Halophiles are unique cycling was eliminated during the bioprocessing and thus offered an
features for carotenoids production because their extremely high-salt economical way for BS/BE production. The maximum emulsification
tolerance prevents contamination by other microorganisms, therefore index (EI24) of the biosurfactant produced from the immobilized cells
enabling efficient cultivation under non-sterile conditions (Waditee- was 62.3%, and the crude biosurfactants produced by the halophilic
Sirisattha et al., 2016). bacteria E21 were likely to be glycoproteins, glycolipids or lipopeptides
Increased carotenoid production has been established using sea- according to the thin-layer chromatography (TLC) results (Kebbouche-
water cultivation and genetic manipulation, including the feasibility of Gana et al., 2013). Also, halophilic bacteria Pseudomonas stutzeri BK-
downstream processes of the cells (Papaioannou et al., 2016). Car- AB12 was used to produce biosurfactant with glycerol as a carbon
otenoid production from halophiles, therefore, poses to be potentially source. The biosurfactant gave emulsification index (EI24) of 53.33%
advantageous for industrial biotechnology. and critical micelle concentration (CMC) at 48.44 mg/L. A Blue Plate
agar-CTAB assay and Fourier-transmission infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
3.4. Hydrolytic enzymes from halophiles analysis showed that the biosurfactant was an anionic type and most
likely a rhamnolipid (Putri and Hertadi, 2015).
Many halophiles are capable of secreting extracellular hydrolytic Halophilic microorganisms can, therefore, serve as a platform for
enzymes such as amylases, lipases, proteases, xylanases, and cellulases producing endogenous/heterogeneous Biosurfactants and
(Govender et al., 2009; Enache and Kamekura, 2010; Delgado-García Bioemulsifiers at low cost.
et al., 2015). These enzymes are capable of catalyzing hydrolytic re-
actions under high salt concentrations, and they are referred to as ha- 4. Other potential application of halophiles
lophilic hydrolases (Delgado-García et al., 2012).
Halophilic amylases were reported to be produced by Halobacteria Although halophiles are capable of producing various diversified
including Chromohalobacter sp., Halobacillus sp., Halothermothrix orenii, products, some of these products are of minimum yield and needs
Micrococcus halobitus and Streptomyces sp. (Amoozegar et al., 2003; Tan further improvement. Previous researchers have produced little or no
et al., 2008; Chakraborty et al., 2009). Halophilic amylases have higher amounts of such products due to the complex nature and high cost of
stability under adverse conditions and therefore attractive for industrial production of these products. For example, although biosynthesis and
applications such as the treatment of wastewater containing high salts accumulation of MAAs were predominantly reported in microorganisms
and starch residues, additives in laundry detergents and starch hydro- that thrive in hypersaline environments such as marine cyanobacteria
lysis (Gupta et al., 2003; Chakraborty et al., 2009). Halophilic proteases and eukaryotic algae as an adaptation from the adverse effect of solar
were isolated from Bacillus sp., Chromahalobacter sp., Filobacillus sp., UV radiation (Rastogi et al., 2014), large scale production of MAAs is
Halobacillus sp., Nesterenkonia sp., Pseudoaltermonas sp., Salinivobrio sp., yet to be achieved. Mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) represent a
and Virgibacillus sp. (Bakhtiar et al., 2005; Karbalaei-Heidari et al., suite of small, low-molecular-weight and water-soluble molecules
2009; Shivanand and Jayaraman, 2009; Vidyasagar et al., 2009). These which have unique ultraviolet-absorbing capacities, based on their
enzymes are active in the presence of NaCl and can thrive in pH of 5–10 common cyclohexenone or cyclohexenimine conjugated arrangements
and temperature of 40–75 °C, and they are therefore widely applied for (Shang et al., 2018). Ryu et al. (2014) showed that different types of
laundry additives, pharmaceuticals, waste management, and food pro- MAAs such as the shinorine, Porphyra-334, and mycosporine-glycine
cessing (Vidyasagar et al., 2009). Researchers also obtained Xylanases could protect the human fibroblast cells from UV-induced cell death.
from Bacillus pumilus GESF-1, Chromohalobacter sp., Glaciecola MAAs are therefore promising candidates for use in cosmetic and

4
C. Liu, et al. Journal of Microbiological Methods 166 (2019) 105704

pharmaceutical applications, and they could be exploited biotechnolo- 6. Drawbacks of halophilic production and possible ways to
gically in diverse ways. overcome them
Although generally obtained from plant and animal sources, the
alga, Dunaliella could also produce glycerol. However, attempts of mass Although halophiles can carry out the production of valuable che-
cultivation of Dunaliella for commercial production of glycerol in the micals in hypersaline media, too much salt in the media limits the ef-
past was unfeasible; the high cost of the harvesting of the cells makes ficiency of fermentation equipment. Salt concentration, therefore, re-
production expensive as compared to the low price of glycerol produced quires rigorous monitoring, and equipment requires frequent and costly
by other means (Oren, 2010). maintenance. Also, PHA recovery and purification, extraction of PHA
Catalytic pyrolysis of Dunaliella cell material at a temperature of from the biomass is complicated and expensive. Therefore, mass pro-
200–240 °C produces an oil-like substance soluble which is soluble in duction of PHA by halophiles becomes uneconomical. Again, the cost of
benzene. The overall process proved to be exothermic in order to regain harvesting cells of halophiles for production is high; for example, har-
thermal energy needed to initiate the reaction, and up to 75% of the cell vesting cells of Dunaliella for the production of biofuel and glycerol is
material in an algae seawater slurry could be converted to extractable expensive and therefore, the yield of production may not be able to
oil (Goldman et al., 1981; Oren, 2010). However, the production cost is recompense the cost of harvesting of cells and the final production cost
high because the harvesting of the microalgae alone is an expensive (Goldman et al., 1981; Oren, 2010). In addition, the cultivation medium
process (Oren, 2010). Therefore, the biofuel produced may not be able contains a high amount of salt, which can be problematic during was-
to recompense the cost of harvesting and production. tewater treatment.
Hence, there is more room for research and further development on In spite of the above drawbacks, we have devised a possible solution
competitive and low-cost commercial production of these products by in Table 3 that can help improve productivity by halophiles.
halophiles.
7. Genetic manipulation of halophiles

5. The advantage of halophiles for industrial biotechnology Genetic manipulation is crucial to improving the performance of
halophiles for industrial applications. Researchers have made efforts in
Halophiles possess several properties that make them unique and modifying halophiles to express foreign genes by developing various
preferable for industrial biotechnology. With the advantage of these genetic tools for them (see Fig. 1). However, further development of
unique properties, halophiles become a useful tool for competitive and these available genetic tools is needed as they suffer some dis-
low-cost production that industrial biotechnology cannot overlook (Yin advantages. Many researchers have used synthetic biology and genetic
et al., 2015). Many halophiles are alkaliphilic and can grow and survive modification technologies including recombineering, gene knockout,
in hostile environments, especially high salt salinities. As a typical cell gene overexpression, etc., to improve accelerated cell growth, high cell
will undergo plasmolysis upon exposure to high salt concentration, density, simplification of downstream separation, enlarged space for
halophiles to their advantage, require the high salt concentration for more inclusion body accumulation (increased cell size for PHA gran-
growth and survival. They are capable of employing adaptive me- ules), and to improve production yield and reduce the cost of biopro-
chanisms to survive in hostile environments and to overcome salt and duction. Fu et al. (2014) developed a genetic manipulation method for
water stress. Halomonas TD01 based on efficient markerless gene knockout proce-
The ability of halophiles, especially extreme halophiles to flourish in dure. They improved PHB and PHBV production via deleting prpC gene
brines, provide ideal conditions for carrying out many biotechnological encoding 2-methylcitrate synthase and PHA depolymerase gene phaZ
transformations, due to their great abundance and exclusion of non- and also overexpressing udhA gene encoding soluble pyridine nucleo-
halophilic contaminants. Halophiles also can use a variety of energy tide transhydrogenase. The deletion of prpC gene in Halomonas TD01
sources. They can use less expensive and sustainable substrates such as significantly increased the conversion efficiency of propionic acid to 3-
agricultural waste and kitchen waste instead of expensive raw materials hydroxyvalerate (3HV) monomer fraction in random PHBV copolymers
as substrates. Their halophilic nature (salt-loving) also enables them to of 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) and 3HV from 10% to almost 100%, and
use seawater, which can be recycled during bioprocessing, thereby re- this resulted in the growth of cells to accumulate 70% PHBV in dry
ducing the high consumption of freshwater. Due to high salt con- weight (CDW) consisting of 12 mol% 3HV from 0.5 g/L propionic acid
centration medium during fermentation, equipment made of low-cost in glucose mineral medium. Also, it is perceptible that the manipulation
materials such as ceramics, plastics, or carbon steels instead of the of PHA granule-associated proteins leads to an increase in PHA granule
expensive stainless steel can be used to reduce the high cost of main- size, allowing for more natural separation (Pfeiffer and Jendrossek,
tenance of equipment (stainless steel) (Hezayen et al., 2000). Halo- 2012). Yue et al. (2014) also improved the PHA synthesis ability of
philes can also undergo unsterile and continuous bioprocessing, which Halomonas campaniensis LS21, constructing an overexpression plasmid
saves energy for intensive sterilization and increases process efficiency. (pBBR1MCS1-oriC-Pporin-phaCABLS) of PHA synthesis genes con-
Halophilic production contributes to less environmental pollution as taining genes of PHA synthase phaC, β-ketothiolase phaA, NADPH-de-
production is bio-based, and bio-based products are biodegradable pendent acetoacetyl-CoA reductase phaB, consisting of a native porin
(Philip et al., 2007; Yin et al., 2015). Table 2 illustrates the advantages promoter and a native OriC from the host chromosome. In a more un-
of halophiles over non-halophiles. derstandable context, Yue et al. (2014) constructed Halomonas campa-
niensis LS21 into a recombinant strain that could overexpress its native
PHA synthesis genes with its own strong native porin promoter, re-
Table 2 sulting in a remarkable improvement of PHB accumulation from 26%
The advantage of halophiles over non-halophiles. PHB in the wild-type to 70% PHB in the recombinant strain.
Recently, production of free fatty acids in Escherichia coli and cya-
Halophiles Non-halophiles
nobacteria has increased following overexpression of recombinant,
Seawater consumption (less dependent Freshwater consumption leaderless thioesterase I (TesA) from E. coli. A homolog of TesA from the
on freshwater) moderately halophilic bacterium Chromohalobacter salexigens was
Less energy consumption (no intensive Heavy energy consumption due to identified, cloned, and recombinantly expressed in E. coli strain BL21
sterilization) intense sterilization
and M15 for biofuel production (Schreck et al., 2013). Also, the alsS
Less microbial contamination Frequent microbial contamination
Low capital investment High capital investment gene from Bacillus subtilis together with ilvC and ilvD genes from Cor-
ynebacterium glutamicum were overexpressed to generate KIV (2-

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Table 3
Possibilities to overcome the disadvantages of utilizing halophiles for production.
Drawback How to improve Reference

Hard separation of cells from the medium Reducing separation difficulty through morphology engineering for large cell sizes Zhao et al. (2017)
Saline wastewater containing high salt Treatment by marine bacteria Huang et al. (2018)
Low conversion of the substrate to product Conversion of more substrate to the product by weakening competing pathways Wernick et al. (2016) and Straub
et al. (2017)
Difficulty in obtaining intracellular products Weakening the cell walls by engineering cell synthesis mechanism Li et al. (2016)
Damage of fermentation equipment due to high Saline-akali bioreactors such as plastics, ceramics, or carbon steels can be used instead Yin et al. (2015)
salt medium of the stainless steel fermentors and piping systems

Fig. 1. Currently available genetic tools for Halophiles and some of their disadvantages.

Table 4
Recent technologies used to engineer halophiles and the change in properties after molecular engineering.
Technology Changes in property Reference

Genome-based metabolic systems PTSfru and wild type Halomonas smyrnensis AAD6T were restructured with insertional mutagenesis and Aydin et al. (2018)
engineering triparental mating technique to construct a novel strain Halomonas smyrnensis BMA14 carrying Ω cassette
insertion in HPr region of the PTSfru. This enhanced BMA14's substrate (sucrose) conversion efficiency and
resulted in over-production of levan compared to AAD6T.
Chromosomal expression system A PhaPAh expression strain Halomonas TD-ΔCG-4P, which harbors a chromosomal expression system with Lan et al. (2016)
phaC deletion was constructed. This strain exhibited stable expression level of PhaP in the absence of
antibiotic. Also, Halomonas TD-ΔCG-4P is deficient in PHA synthesis; thus, energy would be saved from
PHA production, and less PhaP would be co-precipitated in the insoluble fraction of the cells.
Cloning system (Modular vector) Construction of vector pHsal-C allowed autonomous maintenance in Halomonas salinarium, allowing high- Silva-Rocha et al.
level, constitutive expression of heterologous genes in Halomonas salinarium, and quantifying promoter (2015)
activities as well.
Suicide vector Construction of suicide vector pHsal-S allowed modification of chromosomal sequences to generate stable Silva-Rocha et al.
and permanent genotypes in Halomonas salinarium. (2015)
Gene knockout After the deletion of prpC gene in Halomonas TD01, the conversion efficiency of propionic acid to 3HV Fu et al. (2014)
monomer fraction in random PHBV copolymers of 3HB and 3HV increased. As a result, cell growth
increased, and PHBV accumulation also increased.
Again, deletion of the actin-like protein gene mreB combined with weak expression of mreB in a plasmid Jiang et al. (2015)
under inducible expression of sulA gene (inhibitor of cell division FtsZ ring assembly), resulted in a huge
cell size of H. TD01 with an increase of over 100% PHB accumulation due to the weakened cytoskeleton of
the cells.
Overexpression plasmid (Recombinant An overexpression vector pBBR1MCS1-OriC-Pporin-phaCABLS was constructed and applied in Halomonas Yue et al. (2014)
bacteria) campaniensis LS21. Recombinant Halomonas campaniensis LS21 demonstrated a stable and strong
expression of the PHB synthesis genes and consumed fatty acid at a slightly slower rate than the wild type.
Additionally, H. TD01 cells were also enlarged by overexpression of the cell division inhibitor MinCD, Jiang et al. (2015)
which benefits PHA accumulation as well as simplifying downstream purification.

Ketoisovalerate) for isobutanol production (Rabinovitch-Deere et al., produced 174 mmol/kg FW of ectoine and 0.31 mol of ectoine/mol of
2013). Tanimura et al. (2013) enhanced ectoine production from glu- glucose. Production of ectoine by H. elongata/pHS15N-lysC was 1.2-fold
cose by constructing a lysC-overexpressing Halomonas elongata trans- higher than that of the control, and the yield was slightly increased,
formatant (H. elongata/pHS15N-lysC) using a strain carrying an empty indicating that overexpression of lysC enhances ectoine production
vector (H. elongata/pHS15N) as a control. After 4 h of cultivation, from glucose. Table 4 gives a list of technologies used by researchers to
H. elongata/pHS15N-lysC produced 207 mmol/kg FW of ectoine and engineer halophiles to improve their productivity.
0.39 mol of ectoine/mol of glucose whereas H. elongata/pHS15N

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C. Liu, et al. Journal of Microbiological Methods 166 (2019) 105704

8. Conclusion Goldman, Y., et al., 1981. Conversion of halophilic algae into extractable oil. 2. Pyrolysis
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Biotechnological potentials of halophiles have been described and salterns and the production of endo-1, 4-bxylanase from a newly isolated haloalk-
are now well understood. This review described halophiles as producers aliphilic Nesterenkonia sp. Afr. J. Biotechnol. 8 (20).
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and salt-tolerant endo-β-1, 4-xylanase from marine Glaciecola mesophila KMM 241.
advantages of using halophiles for bioproduction and the possible ways Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 84 (6), 1107.
to overcome these disadvantages. Recent advances in genetic manip- Gupta, R., et al., 2003. Microbial α-amylases: a biotechnological perspective. Process
ulations and engineering technologies have also been established to Biochem. 38 (11), 1599–1616.
Han, J., et al., 2013. Multiple propionyl coenzyme A-supplying pathways for production
improve the performance of halophiles for industrial applications. of the bioplastic poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) in Haloferax medi-
However, certain drawbacks call for further development of these ge- terranei. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 79 (9), 2922–2931.
netic tools in order to make halophiles more productive and essential Hezayen, F., et al., 2000. Polymer production by two newly isolated extremely halophilic
archaea: application of a novel corrosion-resistant bioreactor. Appl. Microbiol.
for low-cost production. Therefore, our prospects will look at how to
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generate possible solutions to the challenges which these available Hosseini Tafreshi, A., Shariati, M., 2009. Dunaliella biotechnology: methods and appli-
genetic tools face and how to develop these genetic tools to increase cations. J. Appl. Microbiol. 107 (1), 14–35.
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Jehlička, J., et al., 2013. Bacterioruberin and salinixanthin carotenoids of extremely
Acknowledgments halophilic Archaea and bacteria: a Raman spectroscopic study. Spectrochim. Acta A
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The authors gratefully acknowledge funding supported by the accumulation. Metab. Eng. 29, 227–237.
Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province [Grant Number Kanapathipillai, M., et al., 2005. Ectoine and hydroxyectoine inhibit aggregation and
C2017007; C2018002], National Natural Science Foundation of China neurotoxicity of Alzheimer’s β-amyloid. FEBS Lett. 579 (21), 4775–4780.
Karbalaei-Heidari, H.R., et al., 2009. Production, optimization and purification of a novel
[Grant Number 51678120] and the Fundamental Research Funds for extracellular protease from the moderately halophilic bacterium Halobacillus kar-
the Central Universities [Grant Number 2572018CJ01; 2572019BD05]. ajensis. J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 36 (1), 21–27.
Kebbouche-Gana, S., et al., 2013. Production of biosurfactant on crude date syrup under
saline conditions by entrapped cells of Natrialba sp. strain E21, an extremely halo-
Declaration of competing interest philic bacterium isolated from a solar saltern (Ain Salah, Algeria). Extremophiles 17
(6), 981–993.
This statement is to certify that all the authors have no conflict of Koller, M., 2019. Polyhydroxyalkanoate biosynthesis at the edge of water activitiy-ha-
loarchaea as biopolyester factories. Bioengineering 6 (2), 34.
interest to disclose and that we all accept to publish our work in the
Koller, M., et al., 2007. Potential of various archae-and eubacterial strains as industrial
Journal of Microbiological Methods. polyhydroxyalkanoate producers from whey. Macromol. Biosci. 7 (2), 218–226.
Kolp, S., et al., 2006. Compatible solutes as protectants for zymogens against proteolysis.
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