Advisory Meeting #2

EQ: What is the most useful application for extremophile research in biotechnology?

A2: One useful application for extremophiles research in biotechnology is in bioremediation      developments.   

1.) Cold-adapted lipase's from psychrophiles (cold-loving microbes) could prove to be invaluable in bioremediation in moderate to cold environments.  These lipase's have great potential in wastewater treatment as well as in depredation of lipids like petroleum oils. (a,b)

2.) Thermopiles are of particular interest in the bioremediation of oil-polluted desert soils.  Substrate utilization rates of thermophiles have been shown to be 3 to 10 times greater than those observed with the mesophilic - "normal" -  bacteria.  This means that these microbes would consume pollutants at a higher rate that other, mesophilic bioremediation candidates. (c)

3.) Marinobacter sedimentarum and M. flavimaris - two halophilic microbes - have proven to degrade hydrocarbons well at high salinities.  They may come to prove invaluable in oil bioremediation in hyper saline marine environments, like that found in the Arabian Gulf, where half of the marine-trasported oil in the world originates.  (d)

a.) Cavicchioli, R; Charlton, T.; Ertan, H.; Mohd Omar, S.; Siddiqui, K.S.; Williams, T.J.                                    "Biotechnological Uses of Enzymes from Psychrophiles" Microbial Biotechnology Volume 4 Issue 4(2011) : 449-460. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
b.) Joseph, Babu; Ramteke, Pramod W.; Thomas, George. "Cold Active Microbial Lipases: Some Hot   Issues and Recent Developments." Biotechnology Advances Volume 26(2008): 457-470. Web. 23. Feb. 2014.)
c.) Ardestani, Sussan K.; Babanezhad, Esmaeil; Mohamadreza Masoumian; Vossoughi, Manouchehr; Zeinali, Majid. "Hydrocarbon degradation by thermophilic Nocardia otitidiscaviarum strain TSH1: physiological aspects." Journal of Basic Microbiology Volime 47(2007): 534-539. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. 
d.) Al-Mailem, D.M.; Eliyas, M.; Radwan, S.S. "Oil-bioremediation potential of two hydrocarbonoclastic, diazotrophicMarinobacter strains from hypersaline areas along the Arabian Gulf coasts." Extremophiles Volume 17, Issue 3(May 2013): 463-470. Web. Feb. 25. 2014. 

Extremophiles like the psychrophiles, halophiles, and thermophiles host great potential in bioremediation for their ability to degrade pollutants in environments like the arctic and hyper saline oceans.