“Freezing” Thermophiles: From One Temperature Extreme to Another

International audience New detections of thermophiles in psychrobiotic (i.e., bearing cold-tolerant life forms) marine and terrestrial habitats including Arctic marine sediments, Antarctic accretion ice, permafrost, and elsewhere are continually being reported. These microorganisms present great opp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microorganisms
Main Authors: Milojevic, Tetyana, Cramm, Margaret Anne, Hubert, Casey, Westall, Frances
Other Authors: Centre de biophysique moléculaire (CBM), Université d'Orléans (UO)-Université de Tours (UT)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut de Chimie - CNRS Chimie (INC-CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2022
Subjects:
[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]
Antarctic
Arctic
Antarc*
Ice
permafrost
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-04215328
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10122417
Description
Summary:International audience New detections of thermophiles in psychrobiotic (i.e., bearing cold-tolerant life forms) marine and terrestrial habitats including Arctic marine sediments, Antarctic accretion ice, permafrost, and elsewhere are continually being reported. These microorganisms present great opportunities for microbial ecologists to examine biogeographical processes for spore-formers and non-spore-formers alike, including dispersal histories connecting warm and cold biospheres. In this review, we examine different examples of thermophiles in cryobiotic locations, and highlight exploration of thermophiles at cold temperatures under laboratory conditions. The survival of thermophiles in psychrobiotic environments provokes novel considerations of physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying natural cryopreservation of microorganisms. Cultures of thermophiles maintained at low temperature may serve as a non-sporulating laboratory model for further exploration of metabolic potential of thermophiles at psychrobiotic temperatures, as well as for elucidating molecular mechanisms behind natural preservation and adaptation to psychrobiotic environments. These investigations are highly relevant for the search for life on other cold and icy planets in the Solar System, such as Mars, Europa and Enceladus.

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