The cold rush

摘要

More than 40 companies are now engaged in bioprospecting in the Arctic. Hannah Hoag gauges the biotech potential buried beneath the ice and snow. In late April, foreign ministers from the Arctic Council states met to discuss the melting of the polar ice caps, and the news was not good. Recent estimates of climate change show that it is proceeding faster than even the most pessimistic estimates, which could lead to an ice-free summer in the Arctic in the coming decade1. But as the ice recedes, extremophile researchers are also gaining access to previously unexplored regions of the globe, opening up new opportunities for bioprospecting. Hoping to exploit the unique biology of organisms adapted to the Arctic environment, researchers are rooting about in the snow, soil and sea for untapped genetic resources that might offer novel products for the pharmaceutical, life sciences, food and oil industries.