A phylogenomic reappraisal of family-level divisions within the class Halobacteria: proposal to divide the order Halobacteriales into the families Halobacteriaceae, Haloarculaceae fam. nov., and Halococcaceae fam. nov., and the order Haloferacales into the families, Haloferacaceae and Halorubraceae fam nov.

The evolutionary interrelationships between the archaeal organisms which comprise the class Halobacteria have proven difficult to elucidate using traditional phylogenetic tools. The class currently contains three orders. However, little is known about the family level relationships within these orders. In this work, we have completed a comprehensive comparative analysis of 129 sequenced genomes from members of the class Halobacteria in order to …