Thermophiles Biodiversity, Ecology, and Evolution

✍ Scribed by Thomas D. Brock (auth.), Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Mary Voytek, Rocco Mancinelli (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 215
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

These are indeed exciting times to be a microbiologist. With one of the buzzwords of the past decade-"Biodiversity," and microbes are reveling in the attention as they represent by far most of the biodiversity on Earth. Microbes can thrive in almost any environment where there is an exploitable energy source, and, as a result, the possible existence of microbial life elsewhere in the solar system has stimulated the imaginations of many. Extremophiles have taken center stage in these investigations, and thermophiles have taken on the lead roles. Consequently, in the past decade there has been a surge of interest and research in the Ecology, Biology, and Biotechnology of microorganisms from thermal environments. Many of the foundations of thermophile research were laid in Yellowstone National Park, primarily by the research of Professor Thomas Brock's laboratory in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The upper temperature for life was debated, the first thermophilic archeum discovered (although it was only later shown to be an archeum by ribosomal cataloging), and the extremes of light, temperature, pH on the physiology of microorga­ nisms were explored. Interest in thermophiles increased steadily in the 1970s, and with the discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in 1977, thermophilic research began its expo­ nential explosion. The development of Taq polymerase in the polymerase chain reaction (peR) focused interest on the biotechnological potential of thermophilic microorganisms and on the thermal features in Yellowstone National Park.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xxi
The Origins of Research on Thermophiles....Pages 1-9
Deep-Sea Thermophilic Prokaryotes....Pages 11-22
Biodiversity of Acidophilic Moderate Thermophiles Isolated from Two Sites in Yellowstone National Park and Their Roles in the Dissimilatory Oxido-Reduction of Iron....Pages 23-39
Presence of Thermophilic Naegleria Isolates in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks....Pages 41-50
Examining Bacterial Population Diversity within the Octopus Spring Microbial Mat Community....Pages 51-64
Direct 5S rRNA Assay for Microbial Community Characterization....Pages 65-80
Community Structure along a Thermal Gradient in a Stream Near Obsidian Pool, Yellowstone National Park....Pages 81-91
Isolation of Hyperthermophilic Archaea Previously Detected by Sequencing rDNA Directly from the Environment....Pages 93-101
Thermophilic Anoxygenic Phototrophs Diversity and Ecology....Pages 103-123
Algal Physiology at High Temperature, Low pH, and Variable pCO 2 Implications for Evolution and Ecology....Pages 125-142
The Zonation and Structuring of Siliceous Sinter around Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, and the Role of Thermophilic Bacteria in Its Deposition....Pages 143-166
Use of 16S rRNA, Lipid, and Naturally Preserved Components of Hot Spring Mats and Microorganisms to Help Interpret the Record of Microbial Evolution....Pages 167-181
Research Accomplishments of a Small Business Using Yellowstone’s Extremophiles....Pages 183-189
The Yellowstone Microbiology Program....Pages 191-200
Back Matter....Pages 201-205

✦ Subjects

Public Health; Plant Sciences; Forestry; Microbiology