Antarctic psychrophiles: Models for understanding the molecu
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TitleAntarctic psychrophiles: Models for understanding the molecular basis of survival at low temperature and responses to climate changeAbstractAntarctic biota evolved under the influence of a suite of geological and climatic factors, including geographic isolation of the landmass and continental shelves, extremely low temperatures and seasonality. Current warming trends in the continent and surrounding oceans may trigger substantial shifts in community composition and biodiversity, impacting the dominance of cold-adapted over more generalist species. Until recently, the diversity of microorganisms in cold environments was investigated only in terms of distribution, with little attention to their functional roles in important environmental processes. The ómic Ìmethodologies now offer effective tools to investigate the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and to understand the evolutionary principles of adaptation and tolerance/resistance to extreme conditions. In this review we summarise how cold temperatures affect the physiology of microorganisms and focus on the molecular mechanisms of cold adaptation revealed by recent biochemical and genetic studies. â"' 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.AcknowledgementsThis study is financially supported by the Italian National Programme for Antarctic Research (PNRA) and the South African National Research Foundation SANAP fund. It is in the framework of the SCAR programme Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic (EBA), and of CAREX (Coordination Action for Research Activities on Life in Extreme Environments), European Commission FP7 call ENV.2007.2.2.1.6.
TypeArticleCitationVerde, C., di Prisco, G., Giordano, D., Russo, R., Anderson, D. and Cowan, D. (2012) Antarctic psychrophiles: Models for understanding the molecular basis of survival at low temperature and responses to climate change. Biodiversity, 13(3-4): 249-256 doi:10.1080/14888386.2012.706703 IdentifierVerde2012Relevancerank1
