''Haloferacaceae'' is a family of

halophilic The halophiles, named after the Greek word for "salt-loving", are extremophiles that thrive in high salt concentrations. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, ...

, chemoorganotrophic or

heterotrophic A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...

archaea within the order '' Haloferacales.'' The type genus of this family is ''

Haloferax In taxonomy, ''Haloferax'' (common abbreviation: ''Hfx.'') is a genus of the Haloferacaceae. Genetic exchange Cells of ''H. mediterranei'' and cells of the related species '' H. volcanii'' can undergo a process of genetic exchange between two ...

.'' Its biochemical characteristics are the same as the order '' Haloferacales.'' The name ''Haloferacaceae'' is derived from the Latin term ''Haloferax,'' referring to the type genus of the family and the suffix "-ceae", an ending used to denote a family. Together, ''Haloferacaceae'' refers to a family whose nomenclatural type is the genus ''

.''

Taxonomy and molecular signatures

As of 2021, ''Haloferacaceae'' contains 10 validly published genera. This family can be molecularly distinguished from other Halobacteria by the presence of five conserved signature proteins (CSPs) and four

conserved signature indels Conserved signature inserts and deletions (CSIs) in protein sequences provide an important category of molecular markers for understanding phylogenetic relationships. CSIs, brought about by rare genetic changes, provide useful phylogenetic markers ...

(CSIs) present in the following proteins: thermosome,

ribonuclease Ribonuclease (commonly abbreviated RNase) is a type of nuclease that catalyzes the degradation of RNA into smaller components. Ribonucleases can be divided into endoribonucleases and exoribonucleases, and comprise several sub-classes within t ...

BN and hypothetical proteins.

Phylogeny

The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the

List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) is an online database that maintains information on the naming and taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical ...

(LPSN) and

National Center for Biotechnology Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. T ...

(NCBI).

References

Halobacteria Archaea genera {{archaea-stub

Taxonomy and molecular signatures

Phylogeny

See also

References