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Hunting extreme microbes that redefine the limits of life
An adventurous survey of inhospitable habitats unearths extraordinary organisms that pose challenging research questions.
The encounters include microbes that have never been cultured before, or that can live on extremely limited energy supplies, or that persist in states of suspended animation, their biological functions slowed or paused for thousands of years. Falling into or even touching the lake ‘water’ during sampling — while precariously standing on ground at a boot-melting 100 °C and leaning over with a syringe — is not advised: with a pH lower than 1, its concentrated mix of sulfuric and hydrochloric acid is acutely toxic. The principal tool for this is metagenomic analysis: sequencing DNA extracted from entire microbial communities, then sorting gazillions of gene snippets into reconstructed genomes and finally deciphering their enzymes and biochemical pathways to provide the metabolic blueprint of each organism’s capabilities.
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