Barophiles
Image by rchmj via Flickr
Barophile is an organism which thrives at high pressures, such as deep sea bacteria .The deep-sea environment is characterized by high pressure and low temperature but in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents regions of extremely high temperature exist. Deep-sea microorganisms have specially adapted features that enable them to live and grow in this extreme environment.
As one delves deeper into a body of water, the pressure experienced increases. The opposite happens when one climbs a tall mountain, at higher altitudes the atmospheric pressure is less than at lower elevations. Therefore, the air is “thinner” the higher you go. For humans, it is difficult to survive at extreme elevations or in the depths of the ocean without advanced technology.
An increase in pressure causes cellular membranes to become much less fluid, a sever problem for living organisms. Extremely high pressures can also cause damage to nucleic acids and proteins, both essential molecules for living organisms. Finally, many chemical reactions in the cell result in an increase in volume. An increase ofpressure generally results in a decrease in volume. Therefore, at high pressures volume will be restricted, thereby restricting life’s chemical reactions from occurring efficiently.
Recent research on the physiology and molecular biology of deep-sea barophilic bacteria has identified pressure-regulated operons and shown that microbial growth is influenced by the relationship between temperature and pressure in the deep-sea environment.
At this point in time, scientists don’t know all the mechanisms by which barophiles cope with high pressures. However, many microorganisms have adapted to combat loss of membrane fluidity due to high pressures.
