Extremophilic Microorganisms in Central Europe

Extremophiles inhabit a wide variety of environments. Here we focus on extremophiles in moderate climates in central Europe, and particularly in Slovenia. Although multiple types of stress often occur in the same habitat, extremophiles are generally combined into groups according to the main stressor to which they are adapted. Several types of extremophiles, e.g., oligotrophs, are well represented and diverse in subsurface environments and karst regions. Psychrophiles thrive in ice caves and depressions with eternal snow and ice, with several globally distributed snow algae and psychrophilic bacteria that have been discovered in alpine glaciers. However, this area requires further research. Halophiles thrive in salterns while thermophiles inhabit thermal springs, although there is little data on such microorganisms in central Europe, despite many taxa being found globally. This review also includes the potential use of extremophiles in biotechnology and bioremediation applications.

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Himalayan ice-core dating with snow algae

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/172756500781832918 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 46 (153) ◽

pp. 335-340 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Yoshitaka Yoshimura ◽

Shiro Kohshima ◽

Nozomu Takeuchi ◽

Katsumoto Seko ◽

Koji Fujita

Keyword(s):

Vertical Profile ◽

Algal Biomass ◽

Ice Core ◽

Algal Growth ◽

Ice Cores ◽

Late Summer ◽

Layer Formation ◽

Snow Algae ◽

Potential Use ◽

Ice Core Dating

AbstractSnow algae in shallow ice cores (7 m long) from Yala Glacier in the Langtang region of Nepal were examined for potential use in ice-core dating. Ice-core samples taken at 5350 m a.s.l. in 1994 contained more than seven species of snow algae. In a vertical profile of the algal biomass, 11 distinct algal layers were observed. Seasonal observation in 1996 at the coring site indicated most algal growth occurred from late spring to late summer. Pit observation in 1991, 1992 and 1994 indicated that algal layer formation takes place annually. δ18O, chemical ions (Na+, Cl−, SO42− and NO3−) and microparticles failed to show any clear seasonal variation, particularly at depths exceeding 2 m, possibly due to heavy meltwater percolation. Snow algae in ice cores would thus appear to be accurate boundary markers of annual layers and should prove useful for ice-core dating in Himalayan-type glaciers.

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Using Large Wood to Restore Streams in Central Europe: Potential use and Likely Effects

Landscape Ecology ◽

10.1007/s10980-005-1437-6 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 20 (6) ◽

pp. 755-772 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Jochem Kail ◽

Daniel Hering

Keyword(s):

Central Europe ◽

Large Wood ◽

Potential Use

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Plastic Degradation by Extremophilic Bacteria

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22115610 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (11) ◽

pp. 5610

Author(s):

Nikolina Atanasova ◽

Stoyanka Stoitsova ◽

Tsvetelina Paunova-Krasteva ◽

Margarita Kambourova

Keyword(s):

Low Temperatures ◽

Environmental Parameters ◽

Natural Environments ◽

Limited Information ◽

Psychrophilic Bacteria ◽

Intensive Exploitation ◽

Extremophilic Microorganisms ◽

Plastic Degradation ◽

Future Technologies ◽

The Impact

Intensive exploitation, poor recycling, low repeatable use, and unusual resistance of plastics to environmental and microbiological action result in accumulation of huge waste amounts in terrestrial and marine environments, causing enormous hazard for human and animal life. In the last decades, much scientific interest has been focused on plastic biodegradation. Due to the comparatively short evolutionary period of their appearance in nature, sufficiently effective enzymes for their biodegradation are not available. Plastics are designed for use in conditions typical for human activity, and their physicochemical properties roughly change at extreme environmental parameters like low temperatures, salt, or low or high pH that are typical for the life of extremophilic microorganisms and the activity of their enzymes. This review represents a first attempt to summarize the extraordinarily limited information on biodegradation of conventional synthetic plastics by thermophilic, alkaliphilic, halophilic, and psychrophilic bacteria in natural environments and laboratory conditions. Most of the available data was reported in the last several years and concerns moderate extremophiles. Two main questions are highlighted in it: which extremophilic bacteria and their enzymes are reported to be involved in the degradation of different synthetic plastics, and what could be the impact of extremophiles in future technologies for resolving of pollution problems.

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Ancestral absence of electron transport chains in Patescibacteria and DPANN

10.1101/2020.04.07.029462 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jacob P. Beam ◽

Eric D. Becraft ◽

Julia M. Brown ◽

Frederik Schulz ◽

Jessica K. Jarett ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Large Fraction ◽

Cellular Energy ◽

Subsurface Environments ◽

Cell Association ◽

Field Samples ◽

Electron Transport Chains ◽

Transduction Mechanisms ◽

Globally Distributed ◽

Coding Potential

AbstractRecent discoveries suggest that the candidate superphyla Patescibacteria and DPANN constitute a large fraction of the phylogenetic diversity of Bacteria and Archaea. Their small genomes and limited coding potential have been hypothesized to be ancestral adaptations to obligate symbiotic lifestyles. To test this hypothesis, we performed cell-cell association, genomic, and phylogenetic analyses on 4,829 individual cells of Bacteria and Archaea from 46 globally distributed surface and subsurface field samples. This confirmed the ubiquity and abundance of Patescibacteria and DPANN in subsurface environments, the small size of their genomes and cells, and the divergence of their gene content from other Bacteria and Archaea. Our analyses suggest that most Patescibacteria and DPANN in the studied subsurface environments do not form specific physical associations with other microorganisms. These data also suggest that their unusual genomic features and prevalent auxotrophies may be a result of minimal cellular energy transduction mechanisms that potentially precede the evolution of respiration, thus relying solely on fermentation for energy conservation.

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Biological ice-core analysis of Sofiyskiy glacier in the Russian Altai

Annals of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/172756406781811925 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

pp. 70-78 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

J. Uetake ◽

S. Kohshima ◽

F. Nakazawa ◽

K. Suzuki ◽

M. Kohno ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Algal Biomass ◽

Major Ions ◽

Ice Core ◽

Ice Cores ◽

Seasonal Cycles ◽

Altai Mountains ◽

Snow Algae ◽

The Mean ◽

Potential Use ◽

Snow Samples

AbstractWe examined microorganisms and pollen in a pit (4.5m deep) and a shallow ice core (25.01m long) from Sofiyskiy glacier in the Altai mountains of Russia for potential use in dating ice cores from a mid-latitude glacier. The ice-core and pit samples contained various green algae, cyanobacteria, bacteria, fungi and pollen. In the vertical profiles of the pit, algal biomass peaks corresponded to high δ18O layers and Pinaceae pollen peaks, suggesting that these algae grew during the melt season. In contrast, the layer with the lowest δ18O contained almost no algal cells. Major peaks of the cyanobacteria, bacteria and a fungus roughly corresponded to those of the algae. However, seasonal changes in these microorganisms became indistinct deeper in the core, as did the seasonal variation in δ18O and major ions, most likely due to heavy meltwater percolation and/or post-depositional decomposition. In contrast, clear seasonal cycles were evident in the algal biomass and pollen in snow samples. Assuming that the peaks of the snow algae and Pinaceae pollen marked summer layers and that the layers with almost no snow algae represented the winter layers, we estimated that the ice core contained 16 annual layers (1985–2001). The mean annual mass balance for the period was estimated to be 1.01mw.e. The value agreed well with those estimated from stake measurements, indicating that snow algae and pollen could provide reliable boundary markers of annual layers in the ice cores of this region.

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The growth of mica polytypes as studied by conventional and high-resolution TEM

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100074690 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 174-177

Author(s):

A. Baronnet ◽

M. Amouric

Keyword(s):

Water Pressure ◽

Point Of View ◽

Temperature Fields ◽

Natural Occurrence ◽

Growth Mechanisms ◽

Long Period ◽

High Resolution Tem ◽

Layer Stacking ◽

Experimental Works ◽

Potential Use

The origin of mica polytypes has long been a challenging problem for crystal- lographers, mineralogists and petrologists. From the petrological point of view, interest in this field arose from the potential use of layer stacking data to furnish further informations about equilibrium and/or kinetic conditions prevailing during the crystallization of the widespread mica-bearing rocks. From the compilation of previous experimental works dealing with the occurrence domains of the various mica "polymorphs" (1Mr, 1M, 2M1, 2M2 and 3T) within water-pressure vs temperature fields, it became clear that most of these modifications should be considered as metastable for a fixed mica species. Furthermore, the natural occurrence of long-period (or complex) polytypes could not be accounted for by phase considerations. This highlighted the need of a more detailed kinetic approach of the problem and, in particular, of the role growth mechanisms of basal faces could play in this crystallographic phenomenon.

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An atomic-resolution microscope study of Al contracts on GaAs

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100145005 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 726-727

Author(s):

Z. Liliental-Weber ◽

C. Nelson ◽

R. Ludeke ◽

R. Gronsky ◽

J. Washburn

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Schottky Contacts ◽

Detailed Knowledge ◽

The Past ◽

Semiconductor Interfaces ◽

Deposited Metal ◽

Microwave Applications ◽

Free Interfaces ◽

Potential Use

The properties of metal/semiconductor interfaces have received considerable attention over the past few years, and the Al/GaAs system is of special interest because of its potential use in high-speed logic integrated optics, and microwave applications. For such materials a detailed knowledge of the geometric and electronic structure of the interface is fundamental to an understanding of the electrical properties of the contact. It is well known that the properties of Schottky contacts are established within a few atomic layers of the deposited metal. Therefore surface contamination can play a significant role. A method for fabricating contamination-free interfaces is absolutely necessary for reproducible properties, and molecularbeam epitaxy (MBE) offers such advantages for in-situ metal deposition under UHV conditions

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