present in bacteriophages, yeasts, and bacteria. The ability of this Halobacterium species to be easily cultured and genetically modified allows it to be used as a model organism in biological studies. Furthermore, Halobacterium NRC-1 have also been employed as a potential vector for delivering vaccines. In particular, they produce gas vesicles that can be genetically engineered to display specific epitopes. Additionally, the gas vesicles demonstrate the ability to function as natural adjuvants to help evoke stronger immune responses. Because of the requirement of Halobacteria for a high-salt environment, the preparation of these gas vesicles is inexpensive and efficient, needing only tap water for their isolation. Halobacteria also contain a protein called Bacteriorhodopsins which are light-driven proton pumps found on the cell membrane. Although most proteins in halophiles need high salt concentrations for proper structure and functioning, this protein has shown potential to be used for biotechnological purposes because of its stability even outside of these extreme environments. Bacteriorhodopsins isolated from Halobacterium salinarum have been especially studied for their applications in electronics and optics. Particularly, bacteriorhodopsins have been used in holographic storage, optical switching, motion detection, and nanotechnology. Although numerous uses of this protein have been presented, there are yet to be any high-scale commercial applications established at this time. Recombination and mating UV irradiation of Halobacterium sp. strain NRC-1 induces several gene products employed in homologous recombination. For instance, a homolog of the rad51/recA gene, which plays a key role in recombination, is induced 7-fold by UV. Homologous recombination may rescue stalled replication forks, and/or facilitate recombinational repair of DNA damage. In its natural habitat, homologous recombination is likely induced by the UV irradiation in sunlight. Halobacterium volcanii has a distinctive mating system in which cytoplasmic bridges between cells appear to be used for transfer of DNA from one cell to another. In wild populations of Halorubrum, genetic exchange and recombination occur frequently. This exchange may be a primitive form of sexual interaction, similar to the more well studied bacterial transformation that is also a process for transferring DNA between cells leading to homologous recombinational repair of DNA damage. Further reading Scientific journals DasSarma, S., B.R. Berquist, J.A. Coker, P. DasSarma, J.A. Müller. 2006. Post-genomics of the model haloarchaeon Halobacterium sp. NRC-1. Saline Systems 2:3. Scientific books DasSarma, S. 2004. Genome sequence of an extremely halophilic archaeon, in Microbial Genomes, pp. 383–399, C.M. Fraser, T. Read, and K.E. Nelson (eds.),