| Fungi | Viruses | Bacteria |
| What are halophiles? | ||||
| Halophiles are aerobic microorganisms that live and grow in high saline/salty environments. The saline content in halophilic environments is usually 10 times the saline/salt content of normal ocean water.. Normal ocean water has a saline/salt level of 30 percent. Some environments that halophiles live in are the Great Salt Lake in Utah, Owens Lake in California, the Dead Sea, and saltines (crackers). These microorganisms use osmotic pressure and chemical substances like sugars, alcohols, amino acids to help control the amount of salt inside the cell. Osmotic pressure is relationship of fluids on the inside and outside of a cell. Healthy cells keep the pressure the same on the inside and outside of the cells. Halophiles are like other extremophiles because the proteins inside the microorganisms play the most important role of making it possible for them to survive in extreme saline/salty environments. | ||||
| How are halophiles identified? | ||||
| Halophiles are coated with a special protein covering, which is used to allow only certain levels of saline/salt into the cell. This covering helps to seal in water with the right level of saline. Using the process of diffusion to help it keep the salt content at the right level all of the time. | ||||
| How do halophiles reproduce? | ||||
| Halophiles reproduce through sexual and asexual reproduction. | ||||
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| What do halophiles do? | ||||
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Halophiles are present in brine salt. Brine salt is used to cure animal hides. These halophiles themselves cause the hide to cure by breaking down substances on the surface of the hide. If halophiles are left too long, they will cause the hide to deteriorate and rot completely. Scientists are studying the genes of halophiles so that they can find a way to reclaim soil that is ruined by overuse, flooding, and too much irrigation. Over time these soils are make too saline/salty to grow crops, but the genes inside halophiles might show scientists how to fix the ruined land by blending the genes of the halophiles with the genes of the crops. That would hopefully make the crops able to grow in soil with above average saline/salt content. |
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| Halophiles have turned the land that surrounds the Great Salt Lake in Utah a reddish color. This happens to the land after flood water spreads onto the land. The Great Salt Lake has rivers and streams that flow into it, but there is no outlet river for the flood waters to drain away from the lake. | ||||
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Photographic
Citations: Stephen
Abedon lecture: Marine
Science Online Magazine: Astrobiology
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