Extremophiles, a Nifty Tool to Face Environmental Pollution: From Exploitation of Metabolism to Genome Engineering

Extremophiles are microorganisms that populate habitats considered inhospitable from an anthropocentric point of view and are able to tolerate harsh conditions such as high temperatures, extreme pHs, high concentrations of salts, toxic organic substances, and/or heavy metals. These microorganisms ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-05, Vol.18 (10), p.5228
Main Authors: Gallo, Giovanni, Puopolo, Rosanna, Carbonaro, Miriam, Maresca, Emanuela, Fiorentino, Gabriella
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bioaccumulation
Biomolecules
Biomonitoring
Biorefineries
Bioremediation
Biotechnology
Chemical compounds
Copper
CRISPR
Enzymes
Genetically engineered microorganisms
Genome editing
Genomes
Heavy metals
High temperature
Metabolic pathways
Metabolism
Microorganisms
Pollutants
Pollution
Raw materials
Review
Salts
Thermophiles
Thermophilic microorganisms
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Summary:Extremophiles are microorganisms that populate habitats considered inhospitable from an anthropocentric point of view and are able to tolerate harsh conditions such as high temperatures, extreme pHs, high concentrations of salts, toxic organic substances, and/or heavy metals. These microorganisms have been broadly studied in the last 30 years and represent precious sources of biomolecules and bioprocesses for many biotechnological applications; in this context, scientific efforts have been focused on the employment of extremophilic microbes and their metabolic pathways to develop biomonitoring and bioremediation strategies to face environmental pollution, as well as to improve biorefineries for the conversion of biomasses into various chemical compounds. This review gives an overview on the peculiar metabolic features of certain extremophilic microorganisms, with a main focus on thermophiles, which make them attractive for biotechnological applications in the field of environmental remediation; moreover, it sheds light on updated genetic systems (also those based on the CRISPR-Cas tool), which expand the potentialities of these microorganisms to be genetically manipulated for various biotechnological purposes.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph18105228