THE EXTREMELY HALOPHILIC MICROORGANISMS, A POSSIBLE MODEL FOR LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS

摘要

The group of halophilic Archaea was discovered in the beginning of XX th century. They are able to live in more than 2-3 M of sodium chloride concentration that can be found in hypersaline natural lakes, in alkaline saline lakes, in man-made hypersaline mats, in rock salt, in very salted foods, on salted fish, on salted hides, in stromatolites, in saline soils. Their adaptations consist in resistance to high ionic contents with internal accumulation of K ions in order to face high Na ion content from the near environment. They belong to the Halobacteriaceae family. Their adaptation and their resistance to UV radiation and their resistance in oligotrophic conditions in rock salt, apparently over geological times, increase the possibility to find similar microorganisms in the Martian subsurface and in meteorites, and to support the panspermia theory. Some of the research of a working group in this field of activity and their possible uses are shortly reviewed here.