Extremophiles: Any organism that grow on extreme

conditions are called as extremophiles

Different classes of extremophiles are
Psychrophiles
Thermophiles
Acidophiles
Alkaliphiles
Halophiles
Barophiles

 A psychrophile :
Optimal growth temperature of 15C or lower,
Maximum growth temperature below 20 C
Minimal growth temperature at 0 C or lower.
Organisms that grow at 0 C but have optima of 2040 C are
called psychrotolerant.

Psychrophiles are found in environments that are

constantly cold and may be rapidly killed by
warming, even to as little as 20 C.
Eg: snow alga Chlamydomonas nivalis, Bacteria
Polaromonas, Psychromonas

 Molecular adaptations:
Presence of more helix and lesser amounts of sheet
Presence of less hydrophobic amino acids
higher content of unsaturated and shorter-chain fatty acids
Cold shock proteins and cryoprotectants

 Thermophiles:
Optimum tem exceeds 45 C are called thermophiles, Thermus aquaticus
Optimum tem exceeds 80 C are called hyperthermophiles, Archaea is Methanopyrus,

Adaptations:
Heat stable proteins : increase in no of ionic bond between the basic and acidic amino acids
Solutes such as di-inositol phosphate, diglycerol phosphate, and mannosylglycerate are
produced at high levels in certain hyperthermophiles, and these may also help stabilize their
proteins against thermal degradation.
Thermophiles typically have lipids rich in saturated fatty acids. This feature allows the
membranes to remain stable and functional at high temperatures
Hyperthermophiles, most of which are Archaea, do not contain fatty acids in their
membranes but instead have C hydrocarbons composed of repeating units of isoprene
cytoplasmic membranes of hyperthermophiles forms a lipid monolayer rather than a lipid
bilayer
40

 Acidophiles: organisms that grow best below pH 5.5

are called acidophiles
These organisms are not just acid-tolerant but that high
concentrations of hydrogen ions are actually required for
membrane stability
The internal pH has been measured at pH 4.6

 Alkaliphiles:
Microorganisms showing growth pH optima of 8 or higher
are called alkaliphiles. Eg Bacillus firmus
In extreme alkaliphiles an intracellular pH as high as 9.5
has been measured

 Halophiles:
When an organism grows in a medium with a low water activity, it can
obtain water from its environment only by increasing its internal solute
concentration and driving water in by osmosis.
The internal solute concentration can be raised by either pumping
solutes into the cell from the environment or by synthesizing a solute.
The solute used inside the cell for adjustment of cytoplasmic water
activity must be noninhibitory to macromolecules within the cell.
Such compounds are called compatible solutes,