Nanohaloarchaea

Nanohaloarchaea is a clade of diminutive archaea with small genomes and limited metabolic capabilities, belonging to kingdom Nanobdellati. They are ubiquitous in hypersaline habitats, which they share with the extremely halophilic haloarchaea.

Nanohaloarchaea were first identified from metagenomic data as a class of uncultivated halophilic archaea composed of 6 clades and were subsequently placed in the phylum Nanohaloarchaeota within the Diapherotrites, Parvarchaeota, Aenigmarchaeota, Nanoarchaeota, Nanobdellati kingdom. However the phylogenetic position of nanohaloarchaea is still highly debated, being alternatively proposed as the sister-lineage of haloarchaea or a member of the Nanobdellati kingdom.

The lineage has since been identified in data from a range of hypersaline environments including: Australian thalassohaline lake, Spanish saltern, Russian soda brine, Californian saltern, Chilean halite, and Ethiopian Dallol hydrothermal system.