Extreme extremophiles: survival methods (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, November 27, 2017, 20:05 (2335 days ago) @ David Turell

These guys have special enzymes at work:

https://phys.org/news/2017-11-scientists-key-factors-microbes-harsh.html

"Three new studies by University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) scientists have identified key factors that help microbes survive in harsh environments.

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"The recent PNAS article builds on previous analysis by Prof. DasSarma and several colleagues, which identified key proteins in microbes found in extremely salty environments. They examined the amino acid composition of several of the microbe's proteins. The protein surfaces are negatively supercharged compared to all other organisms. These proteins use the negative charges to tightly bind water molecules in order to stay in solution and combat the effects of high levels of salt and dryness. They focused on a microbe called H. lacusprofundi (Hla), from Deep Lake, a very salty lake in Antarctica.

"They wanted to find out how proteins from the microbe function in the dual extremes of very salty, very cold environments. They found that certain amino acids were more prevalent in the microbe. They focused on one enzyme, beta-galactosidase. They discovered key differences between versions of the enzyme in Hla and versions in microbes that live in temperate environments.. Among the key differences: looser packing of atoms and greater flexibility in cold-functioning enzymes.

"Another study, published today in the journal Astrobiology, expands the study, by examining the role of enzymes in the microbe's ability to survive in the presence of toxic salts. This research has implications for decontamination of toxic environments, as well as life on other planets such as Mars, where these toxic salts, particularly one called magnesium perchlorate, have been identified on the surface.

"The third study, published last month in the International Journal of Astrobiology, showed that Hla and other similarly hardy microbes can survive trips into the stratosphere, many miles above the Earth's surface, where conditions are similar to those on Mars. The stratosphere is extremely cold, has little oxygen and has high levels of damaging ultraviolet radiation."

Comment: Once again enzymes come to the rescue. The same issue appears. How did evolution reach out and find these huge, bighy complex proteins? Dsigner help?!