NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Halophilic archaebacteria (haloarchaea) thrive in environments with salt concentrations approaching saturation, such as natural brines, the Dead Sea, alkaline salt lakes and marine solar salterns; they have also been isolated from rock salt of great geological age (195–250 million years).

Detailed explanation-2: -Halophilic microorganisms are salt-loving extremophilic organisms that grow optimally at high salt concentrations. They were found [6] mainly in marine salterns and hypersaline lakes, such as the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea.

Detailed explanation-3: -One mechanism halophiles use to survive in high concentrations of salt is the synthesis of osmoprotectants, which are also known as compatible solutes. These work by balancing the internal osmotic pressure with the external osmotic pressure, making the two solutions isotonic, or close to it.

Detailed explanation-4: -Halophilic archaea thrive in harsh environments like the saline shown here, on the Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia). At the molecular level, proteins that belong to these extremophiles have evolved toward a biased amino acid composition, which reduces the interactions with the solvent.

Detailed explanation-5: -Archaea that live at high salt concentrations are a phylogenetically diverse group of microorganisms. They include the heterotrophic haloarchaea (class Halobacteria) and some methanogenic Archaea, and they inhabit both oxic and anoxic environments.