Abstract

In July 2023, the seawater samples were collected near Dokdo island to obtain unrecorded haloarchaea in Korea. These samples were suspended in a 20% NaCl (w/v) solution and enriched for one month at 37℃ in fresh DB Characterization media No. 2 broth with simply modification. Further, the enriched culture was spread on agar medium to obtain single colonies of halophilic archaea. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene showed that the isolates from this study exhibited minimum 98.7% sequence similarity with previously reported species. Finally, 7 haloarchaeal species, which had not been reported in Korea but were validly published under the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP), were obtained. These isolates were classified into the orders Halobacteriales. The 7 Halobacteriales species were further categorized into the family Haloferacaceae, comprising 2 genus, Haloferax and Haloplanus. Collectively, these unrecorded haloarchaeal species spanned 1 order, 1 family, and 2 genera. This research highlights the potential for discovering previously unknown species in domestic seawater environment. Comprehensive analyses, including Gram staining, cell morphology, physiological and basic biochemical parameters, and phylogenetic analysis, were conducted and are detailed for each species.