Polyextremophiles: Life Under Multiple Forms of Stress (Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology (27))

Many Microorganisms and some macro-organisms can live under extreme conditions. For example, high and low temperature, acidic and alkaline conditions, high salt areas, high pressure, toxic compounds, high level of ionizing radiation, anoxia and absence of light, etc. Many organisms inhabit environments characterized by more than one form of stress (Polyextremophiles). Among them are those who live in hypersaline and alkaline, hot and acidic, cold/hot and high hydrostatic pressure, etc. Polyextremophiles found in desert regions have to copy with intense UV irradiation and desiccation, high as well as low temperatures, and low availability of water and nutrients. This book provides novel results of application to polyextremophiles research ranging from nanotechnology to synthetic biology to the origin of life and beyond. Front Matter....Pages i-xxx Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Polyextremophiles and the Constraints for Terrestrial Habitability....Pages 3-59 Life on the Edge and Astrobiology: Who Is Who in the Polyextremophiles World?....Pages 61-79 The Dynamic Genomes of Acidophiles....Pages 81-97 Front Matter....Pages 99-99 Two Centuries of Microbiological Research in the Wadi Natrun, Egypt: A Model System for the Study of the Ecology, Physiology, and Taxonomy of Haloalkaliphilic Microorganisms....Pages 101-119 Adaptation in Haloalkaliphiles and Natronophilic Bacteria....Pages 121-178 A Random Biogeochemical Walk into Three Soda Lakes of the Western USA: With an Introduction to a Few of Their Microbial Denizens....Pages 179-199 Halophilic, Acidophilic, and Haloacidophilic Prokaryotes....Pages 201-213 Life in Magnesium- and Calcium-Rich Hypersaline Environments: Salt Stress by Chaotropic Ions....Pages 215-232 Survival Strategies of Halophilic Oligotrophic and Desiccation Resistant Prokaryotes....Pages 233-248 Radiation Resistance in Extremophiles: Fending Off Multiple Attacks....Pages 249-267 Front Matter....Pages 269-269 Thermoalkaliphilic Microbes....Pages 271-296 Acido- and Thermophilic Microorganisms: Their Features, and the Identification of Novel Enzymes or Pathways....Pages 297-313 Microbial Diversity in Acidic High-Temperature Steam Vents....Pages 315-332 Front Matter....Pages 333-333 Left Out in the Cold: Life in Cryoenvironments....Pages 335-363 Microbial Diversity and Enzymes in Ikaite Columns: A Cold and Alkaline Environment in Greenland....Pages 365-380 Microbial Communities Thriving in Various Ice Ecosystems....Pages 381-400 Snow Algae: Adaptation Strategies to Survive on Snow and Ice....Pages 401-423 Adaptation of Antarctic Freshwater Green Algae to Extreme Environments....Pages 425-436 Front Matter....Pages 437-437 Deep Subsurface Oil Reservoirs as Poly-extreme Habitats for Microbial Life. A Current Review....Pages 439-466 Expanding Limits for Life to a New Dimension: Microbial Growth at Hypergravity....Pages 467-481 Front Matter....Pages 483-483 Microbial Eukaryotes in Marine Oxygen Minimum Zones....Pages 485-497 Deep Hypersaline Anoxic Basins as Model Systems for Environmental Selection of Microbial Plankton....Pages 499-515 Microbial Eukaryotes in Hypersaline Anoxic Deep-Sea Basins....Pages 517-530 Life at High Salt and Low Oxygen: How Do the Halobacteriaceae Cope with Low Oxygen Concentrations in Their Environment?....Pages 531-548 Front Matter....Pages 549-549 Niches and Adaptations of Polyextremotolerant Black Fungi....Pages 551-566 Polyextremophilic Photoautotrophic Eukaryotic Algae....Pages 567-580 Extremophilic Magnetotactic Bacteria....Pages 581-595 Tardigrades: An Example of Multicellular Extremophiles....Pages 597-607 Front Matter....Pages 609-609 Polyextremophiles: Summary and Conclusions....Pages 611-615 Erratum....Pages E1-E3 Back Matter....Pages 617-634 Many microorganisms and some macro-organisms can live under extreme conditions. For example, high and low temperature, acidic and alkaline conditions, high salt areas, high pressure, toxic compounds, high level of ionizing radiation, anoxia and absence of light, etc. Many organisms inhabit environments characterized by more than one form of stress (Polyextremophiles). Among them are those who live in hypersaline and alkaline, hot and acidic, cold/hot and high hydrostatic pressure, etc. Polyextremophiles found in desert regions have to cope with intense UV irradiation and desiccation, high as well as low temperatures, and low availability of water and nutrients. The chapters of this book provide an updated pictures of our current understanding of the distribution of polyextremophilic microorganisms in nature and about the special physiological and biochemical properties that enable them to withstand multiple environmental extremes. It provides descriptions of unusual and less explored ecosystems such as Earth's cryosphere, marine hypersaline deeps, hot and cold desert environments, hot springs with elevated temperature and low or high pH. This book provides novel results of application to polyextremophiles research ranging from nanotechnology to synthetic biology to the origin of life and beyond. The topics of this volume are of importance not only for the understanding of the limits of life on Earth, but also for astrobiology with the exploration of the possibility of life 'as we know it' to be present on other extraterrestrial bodies in the Universe. -- from back cover