Journal of Marine Biology

Urban air pollution and the pressures of city living are well recognized as major challenges for residents of large, industrialized cities; the development of urban green spaces can partially mitigate these constraints. In many urban areas particularly in arid and semi-arid regions the expansion of urban green spaces faces serious obstacles due to limited water resources and soil salinity. Therefore, selecting salt-tolerant plant species is essential and plays a key role in the long-term stability of established vegetation cover. Salt-tolerance genes have numerous applications in industry and plant production, and accordingly, they must be identifiable. Such genes are found both in bacteria inhabiting saline waters and in plants adapted to salt-affected environments. In the present study, two genes (choline dehydrogenase and pepX) were investigated. Seventeen standard halophilic bacterial strains were obtained from the Iranian Biological Resource Center. Genomic DNA was extracted using a bacterial DNA extraction kit, and primers targeting the choline dehydrogenase and pepX genes were designed using Oligo 5 software. PCR amplification was performed according to the relevant protocol, and the PCR products were subsequently analyzed by electrophoresis and sequenced. Three bacterial strains were found to harbor the choline dehydrogenase gene (Aliicoccus persicus, Alloactinosynnema iranicum, and Oceanobacillus persicus), and four strains carried the pepX gene (Salinivibrio proteolyticus, Salinivibrio proteolyticus, Salinithrix halophila, and Lentibacillus persicus).