Structural Diversity of Membrane Lipids in Members of Halobacteriaceae

This minireview gives an updated and consolidated summary of taxonomic classification correlated with membrane phospholipid, glycolipid, and core lipid structural diversity within the family Halobacteriaceae. We also point out that the recently reported diversity in the membrane core lipid structure of a putative strain of Halobacterium (Halobacterium halobium strain IAM 13167) (Morita et al., Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., 62, 596-598, 1998) is not correct since the strain used by the authors has for some time been recognized not to be a member of the genus Halobacterium but a member of halobacteria group 2 (Grant and Larsen, Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, Vol.3, pp. 2216-2233, 1989), which has recently been designated as a new genus, Natrinema (McGenity et al., Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 48, 1187-1196, 1998).