Halophiles: In Bondage to Salt

Aquatic habitats such ponds or salt lakes naturally occurring in the environment, as well as the sediments of these hypersaline aquatic ecosystems, and soils with high salt content, are the principal representations of hypersaline settings. Microorganisms called halophiles have evolved to survive in these hypersaline conditions. 

Halophiles, which include creatures from all three domains of life, namely bacteria, archaea, and eukarya, are a very diverse class of extremophilic species distinguished by their requirements for high salinity. Their interest is pertinent to understanding how they adjust to harsh environments, the various compounds they can create and how they can be used in biotechnology.

Due to the existence of specific lipids, mucilage coating and the absence of sap vacuoles preventing plasmolysis, allowing halophiles to thrive in high salt environments. Halophilic prokaryotes are rarely pathogenic. 29 members from the phylum Firmicutes (54.72%), 15 members from the Proteobacteria (28.84%), four members from the Actinobacteria (7.69%), three members from the Euryarchaeota (5.78%), and one member from the Bacteroidetes (1.92%) are halophiles.

We now know more about the variability, metabolic and physiological diversity, ecological dispersion and richness of halophilic bacteria. High-tech methods are currently accessible and offer useful information about the variety and biotechnology potential of these ecosystems and the microorganisms that live there.

Just as the presence of salt in food cannot be overlooked, the huge unknown microbial diversity of halophiles, which silently maintains the ecological equilibrium cannot be disregarded.