The halotolerance of a cold adapted α-amylase from the psychrophilic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis (AHA) was investigated. AHA exhibited hydrolytic activity over a broad range of NaCl concentrations (0.01-4.5 M). AHA showed 28% increased activity in 0.5-2.0 M NaCl compared to that in 0.01 M NaCl. In contrast, the corresponding mesophilic (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) and thermostable (B. licheniformis) α-amylases showed a 39 and 46% decrease in activity respectively. Even at 4.5 M NaCl, 80% of the initial activity was detected for AHA, whereas the mesophilic and thermostable enzymes were inactive. Besides an unaltered fluorescence emission and secondary structure, a 10°C positive shift in the temperature optimum, a stabilization factor of >5 for thermal inactivation and a ΔT m of 8.3°C for the secondary structure melting were estimated in 2.7 M NaCl. The higher activation energy, half-life time and T m indicated reduced conformational dynamics and increased rigidity in the presence of higher NaCl concentrations. A comparison with the sequences of other halophilic α-amylases revealed that AHA also contains higher proportion of small hydrophobic residues and acidic residues resulting in a higher negative surface potential. Thus, with some compromise in cold activity, psychrophilic adaptation has also manifested halotolerance to AHA that is comparable to the halophilic enzymes. © 2007 Springer.