Abstract
The term “extreme environments” describes the conditions that deviate from what mesophilic cells can tolerate. These conditions are “extreme” in the eye of mankind, but they may be suitable or even essential living conditions for most microorganisms. Hyperthermophilic microorganisms form a branch at the root of the phylogenetic tree, indicating that early life originated from extreme environments similar to that of modern deep-sea hydrothermal vents, which are characterized by high-temperature and oxygen-limiting conditions. During the inevitable cooling and gradual oxidation process on Earth, microorganisms developed similar mechanisms of adaptation. By studying modern extremophiles, we may be able to decode the mysterious history of their genomic evolution and to reconstruct early life. Because life itself is a process of energy uptake to maintain a dissipative structure that is not in thermodynamic equilibrium, the energy metabolism of microorganisms determines the pathway of evolution, the structure of an ecosystem, and the physiology of cells. “Following energy” is an essential approach to understand the boundaries of life and to search for life beyond Earth.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Ao P, Lee L W, Lidstrom M E, et al. 2008. Towards kinetic modeling of global metabolic networks: Methylobacterium extorquens Am1 growth as Validation. Chin J Biotech, 24: 980–994
Auguet J C, Triado-Margarit X, Nomokonova N, et al. 2012. Vertical segregation and phylogenetic characterization of ammonia-oxidizing Archaea in a Deep Oligotrophic Lake. ISME J, 6: 1786–1797
Bae S S, Kim T W, Lee H S, et al. 2012. H2 production from Co, formate or starch using the hyperthermophilic Archaeon, Thermococcus Onnurineus. Biotechnol Lett, 34: 75–79
Baross J A, Benner S A, Cody G D, et al. 2007. The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems. Washington DC: The National Academies Press.
Battistuzzi F U, Feijao A, Hedges S B. 2004. A genomic timescale of Prokaryote evolution: Insights into the origin of Methanogenesis, Phototrophy, and the Colonization of land. BMC Evol Biol, 4: 9
Bekker A, Holland H D, Wang P L, et al. 2004. Dating the rise of atmospheric oxygen. Nature, 427: 117–120
Biddle J F, Cardman Z, Mendlovitz H, et al. 2012. Anaerobic oxidation of methane at different temperature regimes in Guaymas Basin hydrothermal sediments. ISME J, 6: 1018–1031
Blank C E. 2009. Phylogenomic dating-the relative antiquity of Archaeal Metabolic and Physiological Traits. Astrobiology, 9: 193–219
Boussau B, Daubin V. 2010. Genomes as documents of evolutionary history. Trends Ecol Evol, 25: 224–232
Canfield D E, Kump L R. 2013. Carbon cycle makeover. Science, 339: 533–534
Cavicchioli R. 2006. Cold-adapted Archaea. Nat Rev Microbiol, 4: 331–343
D’Amico S, Collins T, Marx J C, et al. 2006. Psychrophilic microorganisms: Challenges for life. EMBO Reports, 7: 385–389
Daniel R M, Cowan D A. 2000. Biomolecular stability and life at high temperatures. Cell Mol Life Sci, 57: 250–264
David L A L, Alm E J E. 2011. Rapid evolutionary innovation during an Archaean genetic expansion. Nature, 469: 93–96
Falkowski P G, Fenchel T, Delong E F. 2008. The microbial engines that drive Earth’s biogeochemical Cycles. Science, 320: 1034–1039
Farquhar J, Bao H M, Thiemens M. 2000. Atmospheric influence of Earth’s earliest sulfur cycle. Science, 289: 756–758
Gribaldo S, Brochier-Armanet C. 2006. The origin and evolution of Archaea: A state of the art. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 361: 1007–1022
Hoehler T M, Jorgensen B B. 2013. Microbial life under extreme energy limitation. Nat Rev Microbiol, 11: 83–94
Hoehler T M. 2004. Biological energy requirements as Quantitative boundary conditions for life in the subsurface. Geobiology, 2: 205–215
Hoehler T M. 2007. An energy balance concept for habitability. Astrobiology, 7: 824–838
Hoehler T M, Amend J P, Shock E L. 2007. Introduction-A “Follow the Energy” approach for astrobiology. Astrobiology, 7: 819–823
Huber C, Eisenreich W, Hecht S, et al. 2003. A possible primordial peptide cycle. Science, 301: 938–940
Huber C, Wächtershäuser G. 1998. Peptides by activation of amino acids with CO on (Ni, Fe)S surfaces: Implications for the origin of life. Science, 281: 670–672
Huber C, Wächtershäuser G. 2006. Alpha-gydroxy and alpha-amino acids under possible hadean, volcanic origin-of-life conditions. Science, 314: 630–632
Imlay J A. 2013. The molecular mechanisms and physiological consequences of oxidative stress: Lessons from a model bacterium. Natl Rev Microbiol, 11: 443–454
Kallmeyer J, Pockalny R, Adhikari R R, et al. 2012. Global distribution of microbial abundance and biomass in subseafloor sediment. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 109: 16213–16216
Kato C C, Qureshi M H M. 1999. Pressure response in deep-sea Piezophilic bacteria. J Mol Microbiol Biotechnol, 1: 87–92
Kim Y J, Lee H S, Kim E S, et al. 2010. Formate-driven growth coupled with H2 production. Nature, 467: 352–356
Knauth L P. 2005. Temperature and salinity history of the Precambrian ocean: Implications for the course of microbial evolution. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, 219: 53–69
Lang S Q, Butterfield D A, Schulte M, et al. 2010. Elevated concentrations of formate, acetate and dissolved organic carbon found at the lost city hydrothermal field. Geochim Cosmochim Acta, 74: 941–952
Lenton T M, Schellnhuber H J, Szathmary E. 2004. Climbing the co-evolution ladder. Nature, 431: 913
Macalady J L, Vestling M M, Baumler D, et al. 2004. Tetraether-linked membrane monolayers in Ferroplasma spp: A key to survival in acid. Extremophiles, 8: 411–419
Martin W, Baross J, Kelley D, et al. 2008. Hydrothermal vents and the origin of life. Nat Rev Microbiol, 6: 805–814
Partin C A, Bekker A, Planavsky N J, et al. 2013. Large-scale fluctuations in Precambrian atmospheric and oceanic oxygen levels from the record of U in shales. Earth Planet Sci Lett, 369: 284–293
Price P B, Sowers T. 2004. Temperature dependence of metabolic rates for microbial growth, maintenance, and survival. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 101: 4631–4636
Roche B, Aussel L, Ezraty B, et al. 2013. Iron/sulfur proteins biogenesis in prokaryotes: Formation, regulation and diversity. Biochim Biophys Acta, 1827: 455–469
Rossel P E, Elvert M, Ramette A, et al. 2011. Factors controlling the distribution of Anaerobic Methanotrophic communities in marine environments: Evidence from intact Polar membrane lipids. Geochim Cosmochim Acta, 75: 164–184
Roy H, Kallmeyer J, Adhikari R R, et al. 2012. Aerobic microbial respiration in 86-million-year-old deep-sea red clay. Science, 336: 922–925
Schrödinger E. 1944. What Is Life. Dublin: Cambridge University Press. 194
Siddiqui K S, Cavicchioli R. 2006. Cold-adapted enzymes. Annu Rev Biochem, 75: 403–433
Stetter K O. 2006a. Hyperthermophiles in the history of life. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 361: 1837–1843
Stetter K O. 2006b. History of discovery of the first hyperthermophiles. Extremophiles, 10: 357–362
Takai K, Nakamura K. 2011. Archaeal diversity and community development in deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Curr Opin Microbiol, 14: 282–291
Thauer R K. 2011. Anaerobic oxidation of methane with sulfate: On the reversibility of the reactions that are catalyzed by enzymes also involved in methanogenesis from CO2. Curr Opin Microbiol, 14: 292–299
Thauer R K, Kaster A K, Seedorf H, et al. 2008. Methanogenic Archaea: Ecologically relevant differences in energy conservation. Nat Rev Microbiol, 6: 579–591
Thorgersen M P M, Stirrett K K, Scott R A R, et al. 2012. Mechanism of oxygen detoxification by the surprisingly oxygen-tolerant hyperthermophilic Archaeon, Pyrococcus Furiosus. Proc Nati Acad Sci USA, 109: 18547–18552
Tijhuis L, Van Loosdrecht M C, Heijnen J J. 1993. A thermodynamically based correlation for maintenance gibbs rnergy tequirements in aerobic and anaerobic chemotrophic growth. Biotech Bioengin, 42: 509–519
Valentine D L. 2007. Adaptations to energy stress dictate the ecology and evolution of the Archaea. Nat Rev Microbiol, 5: 316–323
Wang F P, Zhang Y, Chen Y, et al. in press. Methanotrophic Archaea possessing diverging methane-oxidizing and electron-transporting pathways. ISME J, doi: 10.1038/ismej.2013.212
Wang J Y, Zhu S G, Xu C F, 2008. Essential Biochemistry (in Chinese). 3rd ed. Beijing: Higher Education Press
Windman T, Zolotova N, Schwandner F, et al. 2007. Formate as an energy source for microbial metabolism in chemosynthetic zones of hydrothermal ecosystems. Astrobiology, 7: 873–890
Xie X, Liang J, Pu T, et al. 2012. Phosphorothioate DNA as an antioxidant in cacteria. Nucleic Acids Res, 40: 9115–9124
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xiao, X., Zhang, Y. Life in extreme environments: Approaches to study life-environment co-evolutionary strategies. Sci. China Earth Sci. 57, 869–877 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-014-4858-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-014-4858-8