Polyamine Analysis of Extremely Halophilic Archaebacteria

The polyamine patterns of 21 strains of extremely halophilic archaebacteria, including three newly described genera, were examined. Agmatine as the major polyamine was found in all strains, while putrescine was found in many, but not all strains. These polyamine profiles are consistent with those of 47 strains of the extremely halophilic archaebacteria published previously, but are different from any other groups of archaebacteria. Thus, the polyamine profile of the halophilic archaebacteria serve as a useful chemotaxonomic marker within the archaebacteria.