C. salexigens is the most halophilic and halotolerant moderate halophile known. It is a gamma-Proteobacterium, and as such, closely related to Pseudomonas and Eschrichia coli . It has resistance functions to heavy metals, can degrade aromatic hydrocarbons, can be used as a host in the conjugal transfer of IncP plasmids, and can be mutagenized with the transposons Tn 5 . and Tn 1732 .

Relevant literature references -

Arahal, D. R., García, M. T., Vargas, C., Cánovas, D., Nieto, J. J., and Ventosa, A. (2001). Chromohalobacter salexigens sp. nov., a moderately halophilic species that includes Halomonas elongata DSM 3043 and ATCC33174. Int. J. Syst. Evol.   Microbiol. 51 , 1457-1462.

Cánovas, D., Vargas, C., Csonka, L. N., Ventosa, A., and Nieto, J. (1996). Osmoprotectants in Halomonas elongata : high affinity betaine transport system and choline-betaine pathway. J. Bacteriol. 178 , 7221-7226.

Cánovas, D., Vargas, C., Csonka, L. N., Ventosa, A., and Nieto, J. (1998). Synthesis of glycine betaine from exogenous choline in the moderately halophilic bacterium Halomonas elongata . Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64 , 4095-4097.

Cánovas, D., Vargas, C., Iglesias-Guerra, F., Csonka, L. N., Rhodes, D., Ventosa, A., and Nieto, J. (1997). Isolation and characterization of salt-sensitive mutants of the moderate halophile Halomonas elongata and cloning of the ectoine synthesis genes. J. Biol. Chem. 272 , 25794-25801.

Vargas, C., Fernández-Castillo, R., Cánovas, D., Ventosa, A., and Nieto, J. J. (1995). Isolation of cryptic plasmids from moderately halophilic eubacteria of the genus Halomonas .   Characterization of a small plasmid from H . elongata and its use for shuttle vector construction. Mol. Gen. Genet. 246 , 411-418.

Ventosa, A. (1988). Taxonomy of moderately halophilic heterotrophic eubacteria. In Halophilic Bacteria, F. Rodríguez-Valera, ed. (Boca Raton FL: CRC Press), pp. 71-84.

Ventosa, A., and Nieto, J. J. (1995). Biotechnical applications and potentialities of halophilic microorganisms. World J. Microb. Biotechnol. 11 , 85-94.

Ventosa, A., Nieto, J. J., and Oren, A. (1998). Biology of moderately halophilic aerobic bacteria. Micro. Mol. Biol. Rev. 62 , 504-544.

Vreeland, R. H., Lichtfield, C. D., Martin, E. L., and Elliot, E. (1980). Halomonas elongata , a new genus and species of extremely salt-tolerant bacteria. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 30 , 485-495.