Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

The Arava Desert is a hostile oligotrophic, extremely dry and hyper saline environment in Israel. Such environments are usually inhabited by microorganisms called extremophiles. In this study, an extreme halophilic Archaeon was cultivated from sand samples of the Arava Desert. The interactions of this archaeal isolate with radionuclides will be studied in the next future. Such studies are important because saline environments are perspective sites for deposition of radioactive wastes.