Karen's Assignment

Potassium homeostasis

How does our species maintain potassium homeostasis?

Are the genes for this process highly conserved among halophiles?

Is potassium homeostasis related to our species ability to survive/thrive in high salinity environments? How?

I am beginning to understand potassium homeostasis and how it may be useful to our organism to survive in high salt concentrations by first researching how other known species utilize this mechanism. In a paper by Strahl and Greie, the Halobacterium salinarum species use of potassium homeostasis to maintain life in a high salinity environment is described. Apparently these organisms maintain life in such conditions by creating an equimolar condition within their cytoplasm. KCl is the preferred ion to create this equal osmolality for this halobacterium resulting in osmotic equilibrium with the surrounding environment. The K+ ion enters the cell by both passive transport mechanisms as well as active transport mechanisms. A gene, kdpFABC, has been discovered in this organism that codes for homologs of a bacterial APT-driven K+ uptake system. Deletion of this gene is detrimental to organism survival in limiting K+ conditions. This paper also mentions that this mechanism is unique to this and another species of halobacterium because other halophiles utilize organic solutes to equalize osmotic pressures in high salinity environments. I must determine whether or not potassium homeostasis could be a mechanism of maintaining osmotic equilibrium in our spcies.