BIOL 3P43 Midterm: Lecture 3 Condensed
25 Feb 2019
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Extremophiles: having optimal conditions outside the normal environment, mostly extremophiles are archaea. These organisms not only survive in extreme or unusual environment on the earth but also reproduce & grow. There is a physical limit to when microorganisms cannot grow any longer -> proteins, fatty acids no longer stable. Thermus aquaticus and thermococcus littoralis are used as sources of the enzyme dna polymerase, for the pcr technique in dna fingerprinting. Psychrophiles -> cold loving: most psychrophiles are bacteria or archaea. Proteins rich in -helices and polar groups allow for greater flexibility. Antifreeze proteins maintain liquid intracellular conditions by lowering freezing points of other biomolecules active transport at lower temperatures. They can be used as sources of biogas. This would be a renewable source of energy: methane producing organisms, archaea group of the prokaryotes. Methylotrophs: methane degrading organism, methylococcus capsulatus is used to degrade methane.
