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Acidophiles comprise a group of microorganisms adapted to live in acidic environments. Despite acidophiles are usually associated with an autotrophic metabolism, more than 80 microorganisms capable of utilizing organic matter have been isolated from natural and man-made environments. The ability to reduce soluble and insoluble iron compounds has been described for many of these species and may be harnessed to develop new or improved mining processes when oxidative bioleaching is ineffective. Similarly, as these microorganisms grow in highly acidic media and the chances of contamination are reduced by the low pH, they may be employed to implement robust fermentation processes. By conducting an extensive literature review, this work presents an updated view of basic aspects and technological applications in biomining, bioremediation, fermentation processes aimed at biopolymers production, microbial electrochemical systems, and the potential use of extremozymes.
Acidophiles comprise a group of microorganisms adapted to live in acidic environments. Despite acidophiles are usually associated with an autotrophic metabolism, more than 80 microorganisms capable of utilizing organic matter have been isolated from natural and man-made environments. The ability to reduce soluble and insoluble iron compounds has been described for many of these species and may be harnessed to develop new or improved mining processes when oxidative bioleaching is ineffective. Similarly, as these microorganisms grow in highly acidic media and the chances of contamination are reduced by the low pH, they may be employed to implement robust fermentation processes. By conducting an extensive literature review, this work presents an updated view of basic aspects and technological applications in biomining, bioremediation, fermentation processes aimed at biopolymers production, microbial electrochemical systems, and the potential use of extremozymes.
Archaea represents the third domain of life, displaying a closer relationship with eukaryotes than bacteria. These microorganisms are valuable model systems for molecular biology and biotechnology. In fact, nowadays, methanogens, halophiles, thermophilic euryarchaeota, and crenarchaeota are the four groups of archaea for which genetic systems have been well established, making them suitable as model systems and allowing for the increasing study of archaeal genes’ functions. Furthermore, thermophiles are used to explore several aspects of archaeal biology, such as stress responses, DNA replication and repair, transcription, translation and its regulation mechanisms, CRISPR systems, and carbon and energy metabolism. Extremophilic archaea also represent a valuable source of new biomolecules for biological and biotechnological applications, and there is growing interest in the development of engineered strains. In this review, we report on some of the most important aspects of the use of archaea as a model system for genetic evolution, the development of genetic tools, and their application for the elucidation of the basal molecular mechanisms in this domain of life. Furthermore, an overview on the discovery of new enzymes of biotechnological interest from archaea thriving in extreme environments is reported.
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