Halophiles

Halophiles or halophilic extremophiles are the organisms that live in extremely salty environments i.e. they requires high level of sodium chloride to grow. The name comes from the Greek word meaning “salt-loving". Halobacterium (a genus of archaea), bacterium Salinibacter ruber etc. are halophiles. Halophiles can be aerobic or anaerobic. They modifies the structure of their proteins and membranes. Their internal potassium concentration is very high around 4 to 7 M; this helps them to  remain hypertonic to their environment and also their intracellular machinery (ribosomes, enzymes and proteins) require high level of potassium in order to be stable and active. On the contrary, their plasma membrane and cell wall are stabilized by high concentration of sodium ions which will otherwise disintegrate.