VOLN27B: A New Head-Tailed Halovirus Isolated from an Underground Salt Crystal and Infecting Halorubrum

Figure 1

Sampling and halovirus screening. The drill core was collected from Dingyuan Salt Mine, Anhui, China (white arrow) (a). Schematic map showed the stratigraphic texture of the drill core sample. The bottom of the drill core reached 483.3 m subsurface (b). The layers constituted of salt crystals were colored in indigo blue. A section of the salt layer from 432 to 436 m underground was taken from drill core sample. Two sections of drill core almost consisted of salt crystals (white arrows) were used for screening haloarchaea and halovirus (c). Plaques were formed on the lawn of strain Halorubrum sp. LN27 after cultivation for 3 days at 37°C (d). Clear and transparent plaques can be easily recognized after a cultivation of 3 days. As the extension of the cultivation time, the diameter of the plaque became larger and arrived approximately 7 mm after 7 days. Black arrow showed the morphologic development of a single plaque (e).