Physiological and molecular information on the adaptation of D. hansenii has been accumulating over last 10–15 Y. It is a haploid yeast with a significant level of chromosome length polymorphism (Corredor et al. 2003). Its genome is available at http://cbi.labri.fr/Genolevures/ as it was fully sequenced by the French consortium Genolevures (Dujon et al. 2004). This has thus opened new possibilities for an integrated approach to the understanding of halotolerance/halophily.