(1) Bacteriorhodopsin is the light-harvesting protein of the purple membrane of the halophilic microorganism Halobacterium halobium.(2) The secret to growing the slow-growing halophiles is to keep the nutrient concentration low enough to curb the growth of competing organisms.(3) Studying extremophiles such as halophiles on Earth may provide insights helpful in our search for life elsewhere in the universe.(4) With these adaptations the extreme halophiles are able to live in environments where most other organisms die and they therefore take advantage of a niche that is rich in nutrients.(5) The halophilic diatom C. elkab comprises at least 10% of the fossil flora throughout OD2, and increases toward the OD2 - OD3 boundary in sediments deposited during lake-level decline in the 1930s and early 1940s.(6) The population of viable halophiles is hypothesized to decrease as resources are depleted over time.(7) These pictures show an immense bloom of a halophilic (‘salt-loving’; dependent on high salt concentrations) archaean species, in a saline pond at a salt works near San Quintin, Baja California Norte, Mexico.(8) Only the evolutionarily ancient halophilic Archaea, restricted to marginal habitats such as brine ponds, appear to rely extensively on inorganic osmolytes at high concentrations.(9) Often in conjunction with student groups, the DasSarma team has extensively sampled portions of the bay in search of novel halophiles and also to study the impacts of pollution on known species.(10) Photoactive yellow protein is a water-soluble photoreceptor protein responsible for the negative bluelight-induced phototaxis of the halophilic phototropic bacterium, Halorhodospira halophila.
