Springer Adaptation to Life at High Salt Concentrations in Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya: 9 (Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, 9)

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: 10.1186/1746-1448-1-6Publication 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 s