Halophilic microorganisms, either bacteria or archaea, flourish in media with salinity levels varying from negligible until to saturation in NaCl and thus are considered extremophiles. Several strains of halophilic bacteria and archaea have been isolated from such environments (Balta Albă salt lake from Romania) and characterized by their ability to produce extracellular enzymes with putative potential for use in several domains like industry, agriculture and biotechnology. In this paper we

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... stigated 11 halophilic bacterial strains and nine haloarchaeal strains. Between the archaeal strains, only two were able to produce amylases and another two could produce esterases. From the halophilic bacterial strains one showed the capacity to synthesize amylases, three esterases, and six strains were cellulase producers and all investigated strains were able to degrade gelatin. In some cases, a combined hydrolytic activity has been observed. Thus, one halophilic bacterial strain combined cellulase, esterase and gelatinase activities and other seven strains combined two hydrolytic activities , either esterase and gelatinase or cellulase and gelatinase. The presence of combined extracellular hydrolytic activities can offer a potential for halophilic organisms to be applied as an economic alternative to some current biotechnological processes. To the best of author's knowledge, this is the first report on the investigation on the halophilic microorganisms and microbiological studies in Balta Albă salt lake, one of the most important sources of sapropelic mud used in therapeutic domains.