Life On The Edge

by Gross, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780738204451
• ISBN10: 0738204455
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-25
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

Can life exist in the Antarctic ice, in the deep subsurface, in dilute sulfuric acid, in hot springs-even on Mars? What degree of high or low temperature, pressure, or salt concentration can living cells tolerate? In recent years, scientists have discovered many single-cell creatures that exist in-in fact, are perfectly adapted to-extreme environments that were considered uninhabitable just one or two decades ago. InLife on the Edge, author Michael Gross explores how microorganisms adapt to their hostile environments and how they affect our current definition of the "normal" conditions for life. He also describes the vast implications of these extremophiles and other amazing creatures-from potential breakthroughs in medicine and biotechnology to the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

Author Biography

Dr. Michael Gross has studied various aspects of life under extreme conditions throughout his research career. He received his doctorate in physical biochemistry from the University of Regensburg, Germany. After seven years of research in protein biochemistry at the University of Oxford, he has recently switched to writing full time. He lives in Oxford, England, and is the author also of Travels to the Nanoworld.

Table of Contents

Of Extremists and Eccentrics: A Personal Preface	ix
Introduction: Life and Its Limits	1	(14)
Things One Needs for a Living	3	(6)
What Do We Mean by ``Normal'' after All?	9	(2)
The Limits of Life on Earth	11	(2)
Endnotes	13	(2)
Extreme Environments and Their Inhabitants	15	(46)
Profile: Thomas Brock and the Discovery of the Hyperthermophiles	16	(1)
Some Like It Hot: Life around Geysers and Volcanoes	17	(12)
Stay Cool: Life at Subzero Temperatures	29	(4)
Sidelines: Of Polar Bears and Penguins---Vertebrate Life at the Poles	33	(1)
Living under Pressure: The Deep Sea	34	(4)
Sidelines: On Diving	38	(3)
A Light in the Dark: Luminescent Creatures of the Deep Sea	41	(2)
Travel to the Center of the Earth: The Deep Subsurface as a Biotope	43	(5)
Extra Dry: Survival in the Desert	48	(2)
Saturated with Salt: The (Allegedly) Dead Sea as a Biotope	50	(2)
Acid Heads and Basic Needs: Life at Extreme pH	52	(4)
Nature's Eco-Brigade: Oil-Degrading Bacteria	56	(3)
Endnotes	59	(2)
The Cell's Survival Kit	61	(38)
The Heat Shock Response	62	(1)
Sidelines: How to Hunt for Stress Proteins	63	(2)
Heat Shock Proteins Acting as Molecular Chaperones	65	(4)
Antifreeze and Cold Shock Proteins	69	(1)
Focus: Structure and Function of the Heat Shock Protein GroEL	70	(5)
Adaptations by Changes of Amino Acid Sequences	75	(3)
Chemical Adaptations: Small Molecules	78	(1)
Some New Tricks from the Cell's Repair Workshop	79	(2)
Focus: The Growing Family of Photolyase Enzymes	81	(3)
Sidelines: How Hot Love Helps Archaebacteria to Survive	84	(1)
Waiting for Better Times: Sporulation as a Survival Strategy	85	(1)
Focus: The Case of the Missing Alanine---a Biochemical Detective Story	86	(6)
Two's Company: Symbiosis Helps Species to Spread in Hostile Environments	92	(5)
Endnotes	97	(2)
Relevance of Extremes for Biotechnology and Medicine	99	(22)
An Extremely Short History of Biotechnology	100	(2)
Hyperthermophilic Enzymes	102	(1)
Profile: Kary Mullis and the Polymerase Chain Reaction	103	(2)
Preservation by Freezing and Freeze-Drying	105	(2)
Profile: Pierre Douzou and the Invention of Cryoenzymology	107	(2)
High-Pressure Biotechnology	109	(3)
Bacteriorhodopsin as an Optoelectronic Component	112	(3)
Extremophiles and Disease: Acid-Resistant Bacteria in the Stomach	115	(2)
Medical Applications of Heat Shock Proteins	117	(3)
Endnotes	120	(1)
Extremists and the Tree of Life	121	(30)
The Origin of Life---the Primeval Earth as an Extreme Habitat	122	(2)
From Building Blocks to Chain Molecules	124	(1)
Profile: Stanley Miller and the Primordial Soup	125	(3)
Ribozymes---Relics of a Lost World?	128	(1)
Archaebacteria: A New, Very Old Domain of Life	129	(1)
Focus: Ribozymes with New Activities and New Structures	130	(6)
Methanococcus jannaschii: Decoding an Archaebacterium	136	(5)
Do We All Come out of the Heat?	141	(1)
Focus: Inteins Everywhere---a Surprising By-product of the Methanococcus Sequencing	142	(5)
Searching for Gaia: Life on Earth as a Hyperorganism	147	(1)
Profile: James Lovelock---a Heretic?	148	(2)
Endnotes	150	(1)
Life beyond Earth	151	(18)
How to Detect Life on a Planet	152	(1)
Profile: Carl Sagan and the Quest for Life in the Universe	153	(1)
Is There Life on Mars?	154	(4)
Sidelines: First Results of Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor	158	(4)
Strange Worlds: The Moons of the Big Gas Planets	162	(1)
Are There Any Planets Orbiting Other Stars?	163	(3)
The Spore's Guide to the Galaxy	166	(2)
Endnote	168	(1)
Glossary	169	(6)
Further Reading and Internet Links	175	(14)
Figure Acknowledgments	189	(2)
Afterword: Latest News from the Edge	191	(10)
Index	201