Phylogenomic analyses and molecular signatures for the class Halobacteria and its two major clades: a proposal for division of the class Halobacteria into an emended order Halobacteriales and two new orders, Haloferacales ord. nov. and Natrialbales ord. nov., containing the novel families Haloferacaceae fam. nov. and Natrialbaceae fam. nov.

The Halobacteria constitute one of the largest groups within the Archaea. The hierarchical relationship among members of this large class, which comprises a single order and a single family, has proven difficult to determine based upon 16S rRNA gene trees and morphological and physiological characteristics. This work reports detailed phylogenetic and comparative genomic studies on >100 halobacterial (haloarchaeal) genomes containing …