Angelakis George N, Psarologaki Chrysianna, Pirintsos Stergios, Kotzabasis Kiriakos
Department of Biology, University of Crete, Voutes University Campus, GR 70013 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Life (Basel). 2024 Nov 5;14(11):1425. doi: 10.3390/life14111425.
Extremophiles, throughout evolutionary time, have evolved a plethora of unique strategies to overcome hardships associated with the environments they are found in. Modifying their genome, showing a bias towards certain amino acids, redesigning their proteins, and enhancing their membranes and other organelles with specialised chemical compounds are only some of those strategies. Scientists can utilise such attributes of theirs for a plethora of biotechnological and astrobiological applications. Moreover, the rigorous study of such microorganisms regarding their evolution and ecological niche can offer deep insight into science's most paramount inquiries such as how life originated on Earth and whether we are alone in the universe. The intensification of studies involving extremophiles in the future can prove to be highly beneficial for humanity, even potentially ameliorating modern problems such as those related to climate change while also expanding our knowledge about the complex biochemical reactions that ultimately resulted in life as we know it today.
在整个进化过程中,极端微生物已经进化出了大量独特的策略来克服与它们所处环境相关的困难。修改它们的基因组、对某些氨基酸表现出偏好、重新设计它们的蛋白质,以及用特殊的化合物增强它们的细胞膜和其他细胞器,这些都只是其中的一些策略。科学家们可以将它们的这些特性用于大量的生物技术和天体生物学应用。此外,对这类微生物的进化和生态位进行深入研究,可以为科学界最重要的问题提供深刻见解,比如生命是如何在地球上起源的,以及我们在宇宙中是否独一无二。未来加强对极端微生物的研究可能会被证明对人类非常有益,甚至有可能改善诸如与气候变化相关的现代问题,同时也能扩展我们对最终导致我们今天所知生命的复杂生化反应的认识。