Enigmatic Microorganisms and Life in Extreme Environments

Joseph Seckbach

• 28 februari 1999
• 9780792354925

Samenvatting:

Modern methods and approaches, such as the analysis of molecular sequences to infer evolutionary relationships among organisms, have provided vast new sets of data to further our understanding ofliving organisms, but there remain enigmas in the biological world that will keep scientists working and thinking for decades.



This volume covers the fields of origin, evolution and phylogenesis from prokaryotic to eukaryotic cells. The authors review the three kingdoms of life (archea, eubacteria and eukarya) from molecular evolutionary levels to ecological aspects in enigmatic habitats, including general reviews of puzzling pro- and eukaryotic organisms and their domains. Among the harshest conditions found on Earth discussed are dry habitats, thermophilic (cells in hot springs and undersea thermal vents up to 110C), psychrophilic (cryophiles) and halophilic (high salt concentrations) niches where microbial life is frequently detected. Some chapters deal with the organisms which grow in extreme pH conditions (acidity versus alkalinity), and under hydrostatic pressure in the deep sea, and microbial growth on petroleum. Other contributors present their research on aerobiology and microbes growing in various gases and various levels of radiation, including cellular morphological modification in these extremophilic microbes. This volume also includes the symbiotic association between two or more organisms on the endocellular and exocellular levels. The volume should be of interest to students and researchers of biology, evolutionary biology and chemistry, and other evolutionary fields, and the intelligent layman.