Candida halophila CBS 4019 (syn. C. versatilis) is an extremely salt-tolerant yeast. It was chosen to study the physiology of long-term resistance to salt stress in cells cultivated at increasing NaCl concentrations up to 4 or 5 M. Growth under stress was slow, severely affected not by salt, but rather by initial external pH. Growing on glucose, glycerol and mannitol were produced. Glycerol is the osmolyte and is transported by H(+)/symport. Transport-driven accumulation was though not affected by salt. The role of mannitol is unknown. Internal pH and intracellular volume were constant during growth at all initial pH/salt combinations. H(+)-ATPase activity was not affected by salt.