Microbiota in 'Austere' Environments: Belly Button Banter and Other (Navel) Fluff

摘要

I think the knowledge came to him at last-only at the very last. But the wilderness found him out early, and had taken vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with this great solitude-and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. The biodiversity of Earth is wondrous and vital. As the limits of terrestrial habitation are explored, identification of new species continues to amaze, whether a new mammal or orchid from rain forests in the Amazon basin or Papua New Guinea, or thermo-tolerant eukaryotic metazoans deep beneath equatorial waters or the Antarctic ice shelf. The discovery of Alvinella pompejana (the Pompeii worm) and other "extremophiles"-organisms that thrive in the austerity of hot, corrosive, or high-pressure environments-has been a boon to science and industry. For example, Taq polymerase, an ex-tremophile enzyme discovered in hot springs at Yellowstone National Park, allows amplification and analysis of deoxyr-ibonucleic acid. Heat-loving enzymes also help dislodge oil inside wells, convert corn starch to sugar, and support a host of other industrial processes by speeding biological and chemical reactions. Now, this search is moving from the depths of the ocean to the depths of the.. .umbilicus?