Kocuria Strains from Unique Radon Spring Water from Jachymov Spa

Members of the genus Kocuria are often found in soils contaminated with toxic metals or exposed to high levels of ionizing radiation. The use of classical cultivation technics often leads to the isolation of Kocuria sp. from underground spring waters. These bacterial isolates have to adapt their metabolism to survive in such extreme environments. Four bacterial isolates of the genus Kocuria (Kocuria sp. 101, 208, 301, and 401) were obtained from radon spring water (Jachymov, Czech Republic). These isolates were tested for their ability to withstand stress and extreme conditions. Growth was observed at a temperature range of 10–45 °C with optimal growth temperature between 20 and 30 °C. The content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in all four isolates was proved to be temperature-dependent. The strain Kocuria sp. 301 showed high resistance to all studied extreme conditions (UV radiation, desiccation, and free radicals in medium). The results suggest that isolates from radioactive springs might have developed mechanisms that help them survive under several extreme conditions and could be used in biotechnological production.

Tardigrades and Their Emergence as Model Organisms

Experimentally tractable organisms like C. elegans, Drosophila, zebrafish, and mouse are popular models for addressing diverse questions in biology. In 1997, two of the most valuable invertebrate model organisms to date – C. elegans and Drosophila – were found to be much more closely related to each other than expected. C. elegans and Drosophila belong to the nematodes and arthropods respectively, and these two phyla and six other phyla make up a clade of molting animals referred to as the Ecdysozoa. The other ecdysozoan phyla could be valuable models for comparative biology, taking advantage of the rich and continual sources of research findings as well as tools from both C. elegans and Drosophila. But when the Ecdysozoa was first recognized, few tools were available for laboratory studies in any of these six other ecdysozoan phyla. In 1999 I began an effort to develop tools for studying one such phylum, the tardigrades. Here, I describe how the tardigrade species Hypsibius exemplaris and tardigrades more generally have emerged over the past two decades as valuable new models for answering diverse questions. To date, these questions have included how animal body plans evolve and how biological materials can survive some remarkably extreme conditions.

Extremophiles and Their Application in Bioremediation

A microorganism dwelling in severe environmental conditions is termed an extremophile. These unfavorable environmental conditions include high salinity, toxin compounds, heavy metals, unfavorable temperature, and extremely acidic and alkaline pH. Microorganisms belonging to prokaryotes include true bacteria and archaea bacteria which prevail in harsh environments. In recent years, extremophilic, basically, archaea bacteria have been reported for their immense potential application in the bioremediation process. Bioremediation is a technique that utilizes microorganisms for the decomposition of organic and inorganic pollutants; anthropogenic activities are the basic cause of soil pollution, water pollution, and air pollution globally. Extremophiles are capable of producing enzymes that are thermolabile and can function normally even in extreme conditions. These enzymes and proteins can be utilized in the bioremediation process under extreme pH, heavy metal stress, and unfavorable temperature conditions. In this chapter, the role of extremophiles in bioremediation is discussed.

Thermophilic Bacterial Exopolysaccharides

Bacterial exopolysaccharides have enormous diversity with valuable characteristics, synthesized by various pathways in extreme conditions like salinity, geothermal springs, or hydrothermal vents. Due to extreme environments, these microorganisms have various adaption principles (e.g., low pH, high temperature, high saltation, and high radiation). Exopolysaccharide is an organic compound produced by most bacteria during fermentation using various carbon sources, resulting in a jelly-like or mass network structure outside the cell wall. This biopolymer has an adherent cohesive layer throughout the cell layer. Hot spring bacterial polysaccharides contain diverse extracellular polymeric substances. With a gain in popularity in applications of thermophilic microbial polysaccharides and its demand in diverse value-added industrial products, this chapter aims to provide valuable information on the physicochemical function and biotechnological applications in the field of food, medical imaging, nano-drugs, bioremediation, cancer, anti-bacterial, tissue engineering, etc.

Psychrophiles

Life on the Earth has evolved in the cold environments. Such cold habitats pose special challenges to the microbes in cold ecosystems, such as minimum metabolic activities, very limited nutrient availability, and often extreme conditions such as pH and salinity apart from temperature. Microbial communities surviving under these extreme conditions must have evolved complex structural and functional adaptations. Prokaryotic adaptations to cold environments are through physiological adaptations by increasing membrane fluidity through large amount of unsaturated fatty acids. These microbes also possess some cold adapted proteins whose steady state levels are maintained. They also produce certain compounds such as polyamines, sugars, polyols, amino acids, and some antifreeze proteins to protect themselves under freezing conditions. They also produce exopolymeric substances that promote adhesion of microbes to moist surfaces to induce biofilm formation which helps getting nutrients and protect the cells from harsh conditions. Antioxidants help destroying toxic reactive oxygen species.

The Geobiology of Bacteria Within the Extreme Conditions of Sidi El Hani Wetland, Eastern Tunisia

Extreme conditions in wetlands may be the niche of development of colonies of bacteria. In this chapter, the authors study the gnotobiology of moderate bacteria within the saline wetland of Sidi El Hani. In terms of geology, the coring within the sedimentary filling of the wetland shows color variation from white, grey, black to red related to the variability of bacteria species. On the other hand, in terms of microbiological investigations, isolates of bacteria show a variability from Gram+ to Gram-, from oxidase+ to oxidase-, from catalase+ to catalase-. This geobiological variability is related to radical change in climatic conditions. In doing so, the wetland of Sidi El Hani may record the climatic variability during the Late Holocene. On the other hand, it may be considered as terrestrial analogue with a development of extremophiles.

Origins of Bosnian humor and its role during the siege of Sarajevo

This article presents an ethnographic study of Bosnian humour during the siege of Sarajevo. The siege of Sarajevo, which followed the collapse of Yugoslavia, lasted four years. Despite the atrocities and war crimes committed against the residents of Sarajevo during this period, they are known for the spirit they demonstrated, and humour was a crucial element of this spirit. On the basis of two-month fieldwork in Sarajevo, I demonstrate how Bosnians employed humour to comment on this traumatic event, made sense of it, and coped with the experience. Although humour under extreme conditions is mainly viewed as a coping mechanism, by exploring the origins of Bosnian humour and stereotypes about Bosnians, I demonstrate that a notable humorous response to the traumatic events of the 1990s was more than a coping mechanism or just a response to this particular war. As I argue, a humorous attitude toward life in Bosnia belongs to people’s identity; it has developed historically as a response to the sufferings of a peripheral group in the region and, as a result, has become a cultural artifact belonging to Bosnians’ ethnic consciousness. In their attempt to preserve a sense of normalcy and restore dignity during the siege, Sarajevans continued to engage in their traditional humour, as doing otherwise would mean they had lost control over who they were.

The Resonance and Adaptation of Neurospora crassa Circadian and Conidiation Rhyth ms to Short Light-Dark Cycles

Circadian clocks control the physiological and behavioral rhythms to adapt to the environment with a period of ~24 h. However, the influences and mechanisms of the extreme light/dark cycles on the circadian clock remain unclear. We showed that, in Neurospora crassa, both the growth and the microconidia production contribute to adaptation in LD12:12 (12 h light/12 h dark, periodically). Mathematical modeling and experiments demonstrate that in short LD cycles, the expression of the core clock protein FREQUENCY was entrained to the LD cycles when LD > 3:3 while it free ran when T ≤ LD3:3. The conidial rhythmicity can resonate with a series of different LD conditions. Moreover, we demonstrate that the existence of unknown blue light photoreceptor(s) and the circadian clock might promote the conidiation rhythms that resonate with the environment. The ubiquitin E3 ligase FWD-1 and the previously described CRY-dependent oscillator system were implicated in regulating conidiation under short LD conditions. These findings shed new light on the resonance of Neurospora circadian clock and conidiation rhythms to short LD cycles, which may benefit the understandings of both the basic regulatory aspects of circadian clock and the adaptation of physiological rhythms to the extreme conditions.

Public Property and Its State Form: Contradictions and Potential of the USSR

The article shows that in the USSR, the development of associated social creativity (including such a phenomenon as “enthusiasm”), based on public property, was opposite to the opinions of most economists one of the important sources of development of this economic system. At the same time, the opposite content was hidden behind the form of public property in the USSR – ​the alienation of workers from the functions of management and appropriation of public wealth due to the bureaucratization of state property, which was the main brake on the development of the economy in which these property relations dominated. The analysis of this contradiction shows that public property most fully realizes its potential either as a state property (in such extreme conditions as wars, global catastrophes, etc.), or to the extent it is based on associated social creativity. The potential of public disposal and appropriation based on social creativity is especially great in the field of production of public goods (education, health care, art), where public ownership of the results of creative work can take the form of “everyone's ownership of everything”, which makes it possible to remove the restrictions of intellectual private property.