Life in Extreme Environments
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TLDR
Critically what it means to be an extremophile is examined, and the implications for evolution, biotechnology and especially the search for life in the Universe are examined.Abstract:
Each recent report of liquid water existing elsewhere in the Solar System has reverberated through the international press and excited the imagination of humankind. Why? Because in the past few decades we have come to realize that where there is liquid water on Earth, virtually no matter what the physical conditions, there is life. What we previously thought of as insurmountable physical and chemical barriers to life, we now see as yet another niche harbouring 'extremophiles'. This realization, coupled with new data on the survival of microbes in the space environment and modelling of the potential for transfer of life between celestial bodies, suggests that life could be more common than previously thought. Here we examine critically what it means to be an extremophile, and the implications of this for evolution, biotechnology and especially the search for life in the Universe.read more
Citations
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Cryptic species as a window on diversity and conservation
David Bickford,David J. Lohman,Navjot S. Sodhi,Peter K. L. Ng,Rudolf Meier,Kevin Winker,Krista K. Ingram,Indraneil Das +7 more
TL;DR: The literature on cryptic and sibling species is synthesized and trends in their discovery are discussed, suggesting that the discovery of cryptic species is likely to be non-random with regard to taxon and biome and could have profound implications for evolutionary theory, biogeography and conservation planning.
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Microbial seed banks: the ecological and evolutionary implications of dormancy
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Developments in industrially important thermostable enzymes: a review.
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Cold-adapted enzymes.
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Thermophilic Fungi: Their Physiology and Enzymes
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References
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TL;DR: These low molecular mass antioxidant molecules add significantly to the defense provided by the enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidases, which are termed ‘oxidative stress’.
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The Free Radical Theory of Aging Matures
Kenneth B. Beckman,Bruce N. Ames +1 more
TL;DR: The status of the free radical theory of aging is reviewed, by categorizing the literature in terms of the various types of experiments that have been performed, which include phenomenological measurements of age-associated oxidative stress, interspecies comparisons, dietary restriction, and the ongoing elucidation of the role of active oxygen in biology.
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Living with water stress: evolution of osmolyte systems
TL;DR: Osmolyte compatibility is proposed to result from the absence of osmolytes interactions with substrates and cofactors, and the nonperturbing or favorable effects of oSMolytes on macromolecular-solvent interactions.
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A Molecular View of Microbial Diversity and the Biosphere
TL;DR: Over three decades of molecular-phylogenetic studies, researchers have compiled an increasingly robust map of evolutionary diversification showing that the main diversity of life is microbial, distributed among three primary relatedness groups or domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya.
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TL;DR: The molecular laboratory model of spore resistance mechanisms is summarized and attempts to use the model as a basis for exploration of the resistance of spores to environmental extremes both on Earth and during postulated interplanetary transfer through space as a result of natural impact processes.