natural way to synthesize carotenoids for medical use. Haloarchaea has also been proposed to help meet the high demand of carotenoids by pharmaceutical companies due to how easy it can be grown in a lab. Genes in Haloarchaea can also be manipulated in order to produce various strands of carotenoids, further helping meet pharmaceutical companies needs. Haloarchaea is also present within the human gut, mostly predominant in the gut of people who live in Korea. Haloarchaea are most abundant in Koreans guts rather than methanogens due to their saltier diets. This also shows that the archaeome in the human gut can vary drastically depending on region and what is eaten. Climate change Haloarchaea have been proposed that certain types can be used to make biodegradable plastics, which could help decrease plastic pollution. Haloarchaea are able to produce polyhydroxyalkanote (PHA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV), when exposed to certain conditions. For large scale production of these bioplastics, haloarchaea is favored due to the low cost, fast growth, and lack of need to sterilize area due to the salty environment they prefer. They are also a cleaner option for bioplastics due to them not needing chemicals for cell lysis and have a higher recyclability of the process. Certain types of haloarchaea have also been found to poses denitrifying characteristics. If haloarchaea are complete denitrifies, they could aid salt marsh and other salty environments by buffering these areas of nitrate and nitrite. This could help animal diversity and decrease pollution with in these waterways. However, when tested in the lab, haloarchaea have been found to be partial denitrifies. This means that if haloarchaea are used to treat areas that are high in nitrite and nitrate, they could contribute to nitrogen contaminates and cause an increase in ozone depletion, furthering climate change. The only type of haloarchaea that has been found to reduce nitrogen pollution to atmospheric nitrogen has been Haloferax mediterranei. This shows that haloarchaea may be contributing to nitrogen pollution and isn't a suitable solution to reducing nitrate and nitrite within high salinity areas. See also Life on Mars Purple Earth hypothesis List of Archaea genera References Further reading Journals Books Databases External links An educational website on haloarchaea HaloArchaea.com Mike Dyall-Smith's Homepage Halophiles Euryarchaeota Archaea classes