microorganisms Article Bioprospecting for Novel Halophilic and Halotolerant Sources of Hydrolytic Enzymes in Brackish, Saline and Hypersaline Lakes of Romania Robert Ruginescu 1,*, Ioana Gomoiu 1, Octavian Popescu 1,2, Roxana Cojoc 1, Simona Neagu 1, Ioana Lucaci 1, Costin Batrinescu-Moteau 1 and Madalin Enache 1 1 Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biology Bucharest of the Romanian Academy, 296 Splaiul Independentei, P.O. Box 56-53, 060031 Bucharest, Romania;
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[email protected] (M.E.) 2 Molecular Biology Center, Institute of Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, Babes-Bolyai-University, 42 Treboniu Laurian St., 400271 Cluj-Napoca, Romania * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 4 November 2020; Accepted: 30 November 2020; Published: 30 November 2020 Abstract: Halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms represent promising sources of salt-tolerant enzymes that could be used in various biotechnological processes where high salt concentrations would otherwise inhibit enzymatic transformations. Considering the current need for more efficient biocatalysts, the present study aimed to explore the microbial diversity of five under- or uninvestigated salty lakes in Romania for novel sources of hydrolytic enzymes. Bacteria, archaea and fungi were obtained by culture-based approaches and screened for the production of six hydrolases (protease, lipase, amylase, cellulase, xylanase and pectinase) using agar plate-based assays. Moreover, the phylogeny of bacterial and archaeal isolates was studied through molecular methods. From a total of 244 microbial isolates, 182 (74.6%) were represented by bacteria, 22 (9%) by archaea, and 40 (16.4%) by fungi.