Halorubrum species are usually halophilic and can be found in waters with high salt concentration such as the Dead Sea or Lake Zabuye.
A population of the haloarchaea Halorubrum in its natural high salt concentration environment exchanged genetic information frequently by recombination.
[7][8] One strain of H. lacusprofundi contains a plasmid for horizontal gene transfer, which takes place via a mechanism that uses vesicle-enclosed virus-like particles.
[10] Its cell surface membrane contains Archaerhodopsin-3 (AR3), a photoreceptor protein which harvests the energy from sunlight to establish a proton motive force that is used for ATP synthesis.
The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN)[1] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).