[Resistance of microorganisms of coastal ecosystems of the Dead Sea to extremal factors].

Such extreme factors as UV radiation, high temperature and salinity, and also the small amount of accessible water have an influence on microorganisms of coastal ecosystems of the Dead Sea. Resistance to these factors of the microorganisms isolated from ecosystems of this region (vertical steep gorge around the Dead Sea, clay-salt plain and black highly mineralized muds) is studied. Aerobic, chemoorganotrophic, thermotolerant, moderately halophilic bacteria which, according to their morphological and physiological properties, are similar to species Gracilibacillus halotolerans, Salimicrobium album and genus Caryophanon have been isolated from these ecosystems. All strains grew at 0-10% of NaCl in the medium (one strain--at 15% of NaCl), in the range of 30-50 degrees C. Resistance to UV radiation has been revealed in all the investigated bacteria Lethal doses of UV (LD90 and LD99.99) for spore-forming strains of genus Gracilibacillus were 100-170 and 1100-1500 J/m2, respectively; for strain Salimicrobium 6t1 (does not form spores)--70 and 400 J/m2; for the strain lt4 (genus Caryophanon), forming filamentous (or trychomes)--150 and 1400 J/m2. Some strains of genus Gracilibacillus had strong antagonistic effect on conditionally pathogenic test cultures Staphylococcus aureus 209p and Candida albicans UCM Y-690. It is conceivable that resistance of microorganisms of coastal ecosystems of the Dead Sea to extreme factors was generated under the influence of abiotic (physical and chemical) factors typical of this region.