EQ: What is the most useful application for extremophiles research?
1st: Extremophile research can be used to improve biofuel production, thus addressing fossil fuel depletion.
2nd Answer: A useful application for extremophiles research in biotechnology is in bioremediation developments.
3rd Answer: An application for extremophile research in biotechnology is in improving organic synthesis.
My 1st answer is my best answer. It is the most "useful" of the applications I've explored in that it addresses an immediate and pressing issue - the energy crisis. Furthermore, biofuel synthesis is a hot topic in biotechnology, being feverishly researched and of great interest to many parties beside the scientific community. Extremophiles, of all agents in, are the best option we have to improve current biofuel synthesis processes and develop new ones.
2.) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
It began with Google Scholar. Late last year (as in, 2013), I activated a Google Scholar Alert for "extremophiles" - meaning that the engine would send me papers on extremophiles each week. When time permitted, I'd peruse through the titles of these visitors to my inbox a take note of the their themes. One theme I found coming up again and again was biofuels - inciting me to set up an Alert on biofuels. I began reading these papers and looking into how biofuels are made and what problems face the major forms of synthesis used today and in development. The more I looked into it, the more I came to like this answer. I found robust research, solid reasons, and I happen to deeply care about the energy crisis facing today's world. Solar and wind energy are long term - the world needs an intermediate step.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
Sifting through the plethora of sources has proved to be troublesome. At times, I felt quite inundated - a victim of information overload. The jargon proved to be a challenge as well. Transesterification, lignocellulose, E factor - becoming familiar with these alien but common terms in the subject I was exploring constituted much of the battle. Reviews were my best bet, but I could not seem to find many. I decided to leave my qualms behind and just READ. Also, I found that NCBI includes a paper search engine, on which there is an option to search ONLY REVIEWS. I should have known! I'd come to associate NCBI with papers I'd have to pay to access and, belatedly, integrated it into my research toolbox. Taking "Intro to Systems Biology" - the first assignment of which involved writing about databases - and exploring BLAST at my mentorship helped me to finally embrace the full potential of NCBI.
I also struggled with defining "useful" and "important" in my EQ. This took some thought, ruminating on my senior project. I decided to base usefulness on relevance and immediacy. Importance came down to ease of finding research. Biofuel synthesis is the hot topic in biotechnology and is under rapid development. Extremophiles will play a huge role in this.
I also struggled with defining "useful" and "important" in my EQ. This took some thought, ruminating on my senior project. I decided to base usefulness on relevance and immediacy. Importance came down to ease of finding research. Biofuel synthesis is the hot topic in biotechnology and is under rapid development. Extremophiles will play a huge role in this.
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
The following functioned as guides to this answer, forming a basis from which I could branch out to other, more specific sources. The first, "Genomic Evaluation of Thermoanaerobacter spp. for the Construction of Designer Co-Cultures to Improve Lignocellulosic Biofuel Production.", a paper by TJ Verbeke et. al and published in PLoS ONE in 2014, provided me with an overview of how microbes are used in biofuel synthesis and what challenges remain which must be overcome to replace fossil fuels with biofuels. The second, "Molecular Adaptation Mechanisms Employed by Ethanologenic Bacteria in Response to Lignocellulose-derived Inhibitory Compounds" Omodele Ibraheem and Bongani K. Ndimba and published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences in 2013, focused on lignocellulose derived biofuels, which is where extremophiles seem to be the most useful. It details the specific challenges facing this development, giving me an idea of how the unique capabilities of extremophiles could be used to address them. From this basis, I was able to intelligently seek out specific examples supporting my answer, looking into thermopiles and halophiles in particular.
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