Adaptation to extreme conditions[edit]
High salt[edit]
To survive in extremely salty environments, this archaeon—as with other halophilic Archaeal species—utilizes compatible solutes (in particular potassium chloride) to reduce osmotic stress.[5] Potassium levels are not at equilibrium with the environment, so H. salinarum expresses multiple active transporters which pump potassium into the cell.[2] At extremely high salt concentrations protein precipitation will occur. To prevent the salting out of proteins, H. salinarum encodes mainly acidic proteins. The average isoelectric point of H. salinarum proteins is 4.9. These highly acidic proteins are overwhelmingly negative in charge and are able to remain in solution even at high salt concentrations.[1]