Haloferax mediterranei Halolysin R4 Confers Antagonistic and Defensive Capabilities

Abstract

This study shows that halolysin R4 from Haloferax mediterranei provides its host antagonistic and defensive activities against other haloarchaea, which expands our knowledge of the traditional function of haloarchaeal extracellular proteases. Haloarchaeal extracellular serine proteases have been previously discussed as growth phase-dependent proteins, whereas our study reports constitutive expression of halolysin R4.