Advances in Earth Science ›› 2016, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (12): 1220-1227. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2016.12.1220

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Reviews on Ancient Halophilic Microbes in Halite Fluid in Clusions

Jiuyi Wang( ), Chenglin Liu   

  1. MLR Key Laboratory of Metallogeny and Mineral Assessment, Institute of Mineral Resources,Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037,China
  • Received:2016-08-16 Revised:2016-10-21 Online:2016-12-20 Published:2016-12-20
  • About author:

    First author:Wang Jiuyi(1983-), male, Nanyang City, He’nan Province, Assistant professor. Research areas include evaporites and paleoclimate.E-mail:wjyhlx@163.com

  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China “Aridification in Asian interior recorded by lithofacies feature of saline lake sediments in western Qaidam Basin”(No.41302133);the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China “Mineralization regularity and prediction of potash deposits of marine basins in Chinese microplate”(No.2011CB403007)

Jiuyi Wang, Chenglin Liu. Reviews on Ancient Halophilic Microbes in Halite Fluid in Clusions[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2016, 31(12): 1220-1227.

Fluid inclusions trapped in ancient evaporites can contain a community of halophilic prokaryotes and eukaryotes that inhabited the surface brines from which the minerals formed. Entombed in the fluid inclusions in evaporites, some of these halophilic microbes remain viable for at least tens of thousands of years and possibly for hundreds of millions of years, even under high salinity, low oxygen, high radiation, low nutrient concentration. This review presents the scientific history of discovery, isolation, and culture of ancient halophilic microbes in halite fluid inclusions. We elucidated the controversy associated with the ancient halophilic microbes between geologists and geomicrobiologists. Major concerns and future perspectives on halophiles research were proposed. We emphasized that lithofacies analysis and depositional environment determination on evaporites are prerequisites before any microbiological survey, and rigorous biological protocol must be obeyed at all retrieval procedures for ancient microorganisms. We suggested that future study related to ancient halophilic microbes should focus on other evaporites such as gypsum, glauberite, and trona, characterize and identify older halophiles; clarify metabolic mechanism for longevity of ancient microorganisms.

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