Osmoadaptative Strategy and Its Molecular Signature in Obligately Halophilic Heterotrophic Protists.

ABSTRACT: Halophilic microbes living in hypersaline environments must counteract the detrimental effects of low water activity and salt interference. Some halophilic prokaryotes equilibrate their intracellular osmotic strength with the extracellular milieu by importing inorganic solutes, mainly potassium. These "salt-in" organisms characteristically have proteins that are highly enriched with acidic and hydrophilic residues. In contrast, "salt-out" halophiles accumulate large amounts of organic solutes like amino acids, sugars and polyols, and lack a strong signature of halophilicity in the amino acid composition of cytoplasmic proteins. Studies to date have examined halophilic prokaryotes, yeasts, or algae, thus virtually nothing is known about the molecular adaptations of the other eukaryotic micr

SUBMITTER: Harding T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4987115 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature