Who lives in the Dead Sea?

The fact that in the Dead Sea has life, it became known quite recently: at the end of the last century, scientists have found that microorganisms exist in these extremely salted waters. In the harsh conditions of high salinity, primarily the simplest and strongest.

Ancient bacteria – the future of biomolecular electronics

In the Dead Sea, 20 species of extreme halophilic (solebry) arches were found. They perfectly carry the concentrated saline solution, moreover, it cannot live without salt, for them it is the same normal habitat, as for us the atmosphere of the Earth. Galophiles can grow even with a lack of oxygen – they are sufficiently light. In the shells of their cells, the bacteria is accumulated by a purple pigment of bacterioropopsin, due to it the energy of light is converted into chemical energy. Galophile cells also also contain red carotenoid pigments, which cause coloring microorganisms and protect them from the damaging effect of ultraviolet radiation.

Archai – the most ancient inhabitants of our planet, who lived to the present day in pristine. And in the XXI century these microorganisms are interesting not only to theoretical scientists. Unique protein bacterioropcin can be used in biomolecular electronics – as photochromic material. If you apply a layer of this pigment to the substrate used instead of a film, you can create a qualitatively new photo material that allows you to get a much higher resolution image or record much more information.