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Orellana R, Macaya C, Bravo G, Dorochesi F, Cumsille A, Valencia R, Rojas C, Seeger M. Living at the Frontiers of Life: Extremophiles in Chile and Their Potential for Bioremediation. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:2309. [PMID: 30425685 PMCID: PMC6218600 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2018] [Accepted: 09/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Extremophiles are organisms capable of adjust, survive or thrive in hostile habitats that were previously thought to be adverse or lethal for life. Chile gathers a wide range of extreme environments: salars, geothermal springs, and geysers located at Altiplano and Atacama Desert, salars and cold mountains in Central Chile, and ice fields, cold lakes and fjords, and geothermal sites in Patagonia and Antarctica. The aims of this review are to describe extremophiles that inhabit main extreme biotopes in Chile, and their molecular and physiological capabilities that may be advantageous for bioremediation processes. After briefly describing the main ecological niches of extremophiles along Chilean territory, this review is focused on the microbial diversity and composition of these biotopes microbiomes. Extremophiles have been isolated in diverse zones in Chile that possess extreme conditions such as Altiplano, Atacama Desert, Central Chile, Patagonia, and Antarctica. Interesting extremophiles from Chile with potential biotechnological applications include thermophiles (e.g., Methanofollis tationis from Tatio Geyser), acidophiles (e.g., Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Leptospirillum ferriphilum from Atacama Desert and Central Chile copper ores), halophiles (e.g., Shewanella sp. Asc-3 from Altiplano, Streptomyces sp. HKF-8 from Patagonia), alkaliphiles (Exiguobacterium sp. SH31 from Altiplano), xerotolerant bacteria (S. atacamensis from Atacama Desert), UV- and Gamma-resistant bacteria (Deinococcus peraridilitoris from Atacama Desert) and psychrophiles (e.g., Pseudomonas putida ATH-43 from Antarctica). The molecular and physiological properties of diverse extremophiles from Chile and their application in bioremediation or waste treatments are further discussed. Interestingly, the remarkable adaptative capabilities of extremophiles convert them into an attractive source of catalysts for bioremediation and industrial processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Orellana
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química and Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Constanza Macaya
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química and Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Guillermo Bravo
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química and Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Flavia Dorochesi
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química and Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Andrés Cumsille
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química and Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Ricardo Valencia
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química and Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Claudia Rojas
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química and Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Michael Seeger
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular y Biotecnología Ambiental, Departamento de Química and Centro de Biotecnología Daniel Alkalay Lowitt, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
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Goldman RP, Travisano M. Experimental evolution of ultraviolet radiation resistance in Escherichia coli. Evolution 2011; 65:3486-98. [PMID: 22133220 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01438.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Ultraviolet (UV) light is a major cause of stress, mutation, and mortality in microorganisms, causing numerous forms of cellular damage. Nevertheless, there is tremendous variation within and among bacterial species in their sensitivity to UV light. We investigated direct and correlated responses to selection during exposure to UV. Replicate lines of Escherichia coli K12 were propagated for 600 generations, half with UV and half as a control without UV. All lines responded to selection, and we found strong positive and negative correlated responses to selection associated with increased UV resistance. Compared to Control populations, UV-selected populations increased in desiccation and starvation resistance approximately twofold but were 10 times more sensitive to hypersalinity. There was little evidence for a persistent large competitive fitness cost to UV resistance. These results suggest that natural variation in UV resistance may be maintained by trade-offs for resistance to other abiotic sources of mortality. We observed an average twofold increase in cell size by the UV-selected populations, consistent with a structural mode of adaptation to UV exposure having preadaptive and maladaptive consequences to other abiotic stresses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert P Goldman
- College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California 91766, USA.
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Bauermeister A, Moeller R, Reitz G, Sommer S, Rettberg P. Effect of relative humidity on Deinococcus radiodurans' resistance to prolonged desiccation, heat, ionizing, germicidal, and environmentally relevant UV radiation. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2011; 61:715-722. [PMID: 21161207 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-010-9785-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2010] [Accepted: 11/25/2010] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
To test the effect of humidity on the radiation resistance of Deinococcus radiodurans, air-dried cells were irradiated with germicidal 254 nm UV, and simulated environmental UV or γ-radiation and survival was compared to cells in suspension. It was observed that desiccated cells exhibited higher levels of resistance than cells in suspension toward UV or γ-radiation as well as after 85°C heat shock. It was also shown that low relative humidity improves survival during long-term storage of desiccated D. radiodurans cells. It can be concluded that periods or environments in which cells exist in a dehydrated state are beneficial for D. radiodurans' survival exposed to various other stresses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anja Bauermeister
- Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology Department, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne (Koeln), Germany
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Abstract
Prokaryotic extremophiles were the first representatives of life on Earth and they are responsible for the genesis of geological structures during the evolution and creation of all currently known ecosystems. Flexibility of the genome probably allowed life to adapt to a wide spectrum of extreme environments. As a result, modern prokaryotic diversity formed in a framework of physico-chemical factors, and it is composed of: thermophilic, psychrophilic, acidophilic, alkaliphilic, halophilic, barophilic, and radioresistant species. This artificial systematics cannot reflect the multiple actions of different environmental factors since one organism could unite characteristics of several extreme-groups. In this review we show the current status of studies in all fields of extremophiles and summarize the limits of life for different species of microbial extremophiles. We also discuss the finding of extremophiles from unusual places such as soils, and briefly review recent studies of microfossils in meteorites in the context of the significance of microbial extremophiles to Astrobiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena V Pikuta
- National Space Sciences and Technology Center, NASA, Astrobiology Laboratory, Huntsville, Alabama 35805, USA.
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