Life at High Salt Concentrations

  • Aharon Oren
Reference work entry

Introduction

A great variety of prokaryotes, Bacteria as well as Archaea, can be found in saline and hypersaline environments. These microorganisms are adapted to life at high salt concentrations and to the high osmotic pressure of their environment resulting from the high salinity. This chapter presents a general overview of the hypersaline environments as biotopes for prokaryotic life, the types of organisms encountered in them, and the mechanisms the different groups of prokaryotes have developed to cope with the special requirements of life in the presence of molar concentrations of salt. More detailed information on the variety of halophilic organisms can be found in the specific chapters that deal with the different taxonomic groups.

Saline and Hypersaline Habitats

The greatest part of the biosphere is saline. The waters of the oceans and seas that cover most of the earth’s surface contain around 35 g dissolved salts per liter. Higher salt concentrations are often encountered in...

Keywords

High Salt Concentration Great Salt Lake Hypersaline Environment Halophilic Microorganism Halobacterium Salinarum 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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  • Aharon Oren

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