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Halomonads are moderately halophilic bacteria that are studied as models of prokaryotic osmoadaptation and sources of enzymes and chemicals for biotechnological applications. Despite the progress in understanding the diversity of these organisms, our ability to explain ecological, metabolic, and biochemical traits of halomonads at the genomic sequence level remains limited. This study addresses this gap by presenting draft genomes of Salinicola socius SMB35T, Salinicola sp. MH3R3–1 and Chromohalobacter sp. SMB17, which were isolated from potash mine tailings in the Verkhnekamsk salt deposit area of Russia. The analysis of these genomes confirmed the importance of ectoines and quaternary amines to the capacity of halomonads to tolerate osmotic stress and adapt to hypersaline environments. The study also revealed that Chromohalobacter and Salinicola share 75–90% of the predicted proteome, but also harbor a set of genus-specific genes, which in Salinicola amounted to approximately 0.5 Mbp. These genus-specific genome segments may contribute to the phenotypic diversity of the Halomonadaceae and the ability of these organisms to adapt to changing environmental conditions and colonize new ecological niches.

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The available information on de novo synthesized compatible solutes in response to high medium salinity by bacteria of the Chromohalobacter genus is limited to studies of the mesophilic moderately halophilic strain Chromohalobacter salexigens DSM 3043T. Therefore, there is a need for studies of representatives of other species of the Chromohalobacter genus of the Halomonadaceae family. A moderately halophilic psychrotolerant bacterium, strain N1, closely related to the species Chromohalobacter japonicus was isolated from the salt crust of a rock salt waste pile in Berezniki, Perm Krai, Russia. An intracellular pool of compatible solutes of strain N1 was investigated by NMR spectroscopy. Cells grown in the presence of 5% NaCl at optimal growth temperature (28 °C) accumulated ectoine, glutamate, N(4)-acetyl-l-2,4-diaminobutyrate (NADA), alanine, trehalose, hydroxyectoine, and valine. Such a combination of compatible solutes is unique and distinguishes the strain from C. salexigens DSM 3043T. Hyperosmotic stress induced by 15% NaCl caused the accumulation of ectoine, NADA, and hydroxyectoine but led to a decrease in the amount of alanine, valine, and trehalose. The intracellular pool of glutamate was not significantly changed. A reduction of the growth temperature from 28 to 5 °C led to an increase in the amount of ectoine, NADA, trehalose, and hydroxyectoine. Ectoine was the major compatible solute.