ABSTRACT
Halophilic archaea form a major component of the prokaryotic world in marine and terrestrial ecosystems, indicating that organisms from this domain might be playing an important role in global energy cycles. In general, halophilic archaea have been studied so far from the biodiversity point of view, evolution aspects and mainly biotechnological potential in the production of extremozymes, exopolysaccharide, Polymer polyhydroxyalkanoate, carotenoids and bacteriorhodopsin (BR). T. Kouyama et al. studied the structure and function of BR by preparing BR containing membrane vesicles and demonstrated that BR exhibits a high proton pump activity within a wide pH range. Separation and purification of BR has been a tedious jobs that being a transmembrane protein. Developing suitable bioreactors and centrifuges of corrosion resistant material are still the technological problems to be addressed. For application of BR in various fields like bioenergy, electronics, biomedical, and pharmaceutical sectors, a team of physicists, chemists, engineers, and microbiologists is required.
