Adaption of Microbial Life to Environmental Extremes Novel Research
Once considered exceptional rarities, extremophiles have become attractive objects for basic and applied research ranging from nanotechnology to biodiversity to the origins of life and even to the search for extraterrestrial life. Several novel aspects of
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Helga Stan-Lotter Sergiu Fendrihan Editors
Adaption of Microbial Life to Environmental Extremes Novel Research Results and Application
SpringerWienNewYork
Prof. Dr. Helga Stan-Lotter Department of Microbiology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria Dr. Sergiu Fendrihan Romanian Bioresource Center and Advanced Research Association, Bucharest, Romania
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2012 Springer-Verlag/Wien
SpringerWienNewYork is part of Springer Science þ Business Media springer.at Cover Illustrations: H. Jóhannesson/Boiling pit in Vonarskard geothermal area in Iceland Typesetting: Thomson Press (India) Ltd. Chennai
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With 27 (partly coloured) Figures
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011936882
ISBN 978-3-211-99690-4 SpringerWienNewYork
Foreword
Life on the edge, life at the physico-chemical limits, weird and eccentric life – these are the descriptive terms assigned to extremophiles. The first European workshop entitled “Microbial adaptation to extreme environments” was held at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands in 1973 (Heinen et al. 1974). The first use of the term “extremophiles” is credited to Robert MacElroy, a NASA exobiologist, who participated in this workshop (MacElroy 1974). Many more conferences on extremophiles followed, the journal “Extremophiles” was launched and the CAREX initiative (Coordination Action for Research Activities on Life in Extreme Environments) was started (www.carex-eu.org), providing an extensive data base and recently a new roadmap. The often surprising ranges of physico-chemical factors, within which life is possible, stimulated many scientists to explore astrobiological perspectives, with the reasoning that findings on the evolution and mechanisms of adaptation of life at extremes would help to understand the environments of other planets or moons. These astrobiological aspects are dealt with in several chapters of this volume (Billi; Mapelli et al.; Gomez and Parro; Moissl-Eichinger; Stan-Lotter). The biodiversity of extreme environments appears of unexpected and enormous size; its magnitude is still largely unknown. Classical and molecular approaches are used for its investigation and described by Enache et al., Fendrihan and Negoiţă, Mapelli et al., Heulin et al., Hreggvidsson et al. and Pearce. Several updated lists of taxonomic descriptions of extremophilic species and strains are provided: hal
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