Module 4: Extreme Living
Extremophiles are pretty cool because they live in some crazy enviornments! Here are a few examples.
Halococcus - A type of halophile (salt-loving archaea), that doesn't have a common name.
Halococcus is found in really salty lakes such as the Dead Sea in Israel. The Dead Sea has a 34% salinity, which is almost 10 times saltier than the ocean! Most animals can't survive around this kind of salinity - which is how this sea got its name.
Halococcus uses proteins like rhodopsinprotein to survive these extremely salty enviornment. Halophiles manage their salty enviornment with strict control over their osmosis. One way that this can be done is by having a lot of osmoprotectants in the cell to match the saltiness of the enviornment. This helps the organism maintain its water content.The rhodopsinprotein is often what causes salty lakes like the Dead Sea to be pigmented, but this is the only real know effect that halophiles have on their enviornment.
This organisms has been used in both the food care industry, as well as the skin-care industry.
Up next is Pyrococcus furiosus. This is a hypothermophile, and it's scientific name translates to rushing fireball.
This organism was first isolated on Porto Levante, Vulcano Island, Italy. Volvanos are really hot - some of the lava reaches over 1,000 degrees F! Pyrococcus survives at relatively high temperatures (over 200 degrees F!)
Pyrococcus survives because of its high G and C DNA content, specialized membranes, and unique mechanisms for metabolism. Through these mechanisms, the organism is able to stay more stable at these high temperatures, and protect itself from being damaged. Pyrococcus is not known to have an effect on its enviornment.
Pyrococcus genes have been used to make plants more heat resistant, and the organism itself has been used to produce diols and research amino acids.
And finally we have Natronomonas - an alkaliphile with no common name.
Natronomonas was first found in the soda lakes of Eygpt. These lakes tend to have a pH of around 11.
In order to survive, this organism takes up ammonia in three different ways, and assimilate it into its cell. These uptake methods include uptake of ammonia, uptake of urea, and uptake of nitrite. This organism also has very low isoelectric points and high G and C content in order to survive this harsh enviornment. It is not know to have any effect on the enviornment.
There are currently no known uses for this organism.
