Life At The Extremes

摘要

A microorganism that survives extreme environments can be classified as either extreme-tolerant, if it grows best under more moderate conditions, or extremophilic, if it grows optimally under these extraordinary conditions. In order to survive in such settings, microorganisms have developed unique defences, and this has frequently led them to produce novel molecules. This has made them a mine for natural product chemists. But whilst the first extremophilic organism was isolated in the 1860s, it took over a century for scientists to realise that the number of these organisms is significant, leadingto a rapid growth in research in this area.rnTraditionally, the extremes of life are considered to be high and low temperature (inhabited by thermophiles and psychrophiles respectively), high pressure (piezophiles/barophiles), high and low pH (alkaliphiles and acidophiles), and high salt (halophiles).