Extremophile microorganisms - identifying stress tolerance mechanisms and biotechnological potential

极端微生物是能够生活在恶劣环境中的有机体，包括极端的pH、金属应力、温度、盐度和辐射。这些可能包括真核微生物，如微藻物种，以及原核极端微生物。研究这些生物将有助于更好地了解适应极端环境的机制，以及在细胞和分子水平上潜在的新的应激耐受机制的细节。这些微生物在工业生物技术中也有许多应用和用途，包括作为新的化学品和代谢物的来源，作为更有效的过程的来源，如污染物生物修复，以及作为大规模栽培的新型平台菌株。该项目旨在提高我们对真核生物极端微生物如何耐受极端胁迫条件的理解，并评估来自这些生物的潜在价值产品和过程。该项目最初将利用最近从酸性矿山排水环境、城市废水环境和辐射污染环境中发现的微生物。还将进行进一步的筛选，以使用元基因组学鉴定工具鉴定更多的生物体。候选菌株将使用胁迫生理学分析、代谢组学和蛋白质组学工具进行表征。该项目将提供各种实验技术和学科的培训，包括分子生物学、蛋白质组学和代谢分析。

Extremophiles are organisms that can live in hostile environments, including at the extremes of pH, metal stress, temperature, salinity, and radiation. These can include eukaryotic microorganisms, such as species of microalgae, as well as prokaryotic extremophiles. Studying these organisms will allow better understanding of the mechanisms of adaptation to extreme environments and details of potentially novel mechanisms of stress tolerance at the cellular and molecular level. There are also many applications and uses of these organisms to industrial biotechnology, including as a source of novel chemicals and metabolites, a source of more efficient processes, such as pollutant bioremediation, and as a novel platform strain for mass cultivation. This project aims to improve our understanding of how eukaryotic extremophiles can tolerate extreme stress conditions, and evaluate potential value products and processes from these organisms. The project will initially make use of microorganisms recently identified from acid mine drainage environments, from municipal wastewater environments, and from radiation contaminated environments. Further screening will also be performed to identify additional organisms using metagenomics identification tools. Candidate strains will be characterised using stress physiology analysis, metabolomics and proteomic tools. The project will provide training in a variety of experimental techniques and disciplines including molecular biology, proteomics and metabolic analysis.