How can we apply what we learn from extremophiles to important problems in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and planetary protection?
To address the first question and to expand our understanding of the physical and chemical limits for life on Earth we are exploring geothermal areas in Yellowstone and most recently Lassen Volcanic National Park. We have developed video cameras that can be lowered into boiling hot springs with probes that allow us to profile these habitats for temperature, pH, oxygen, and depth. One goal is to discover “Thermoultima amesei” (the highest temperature organism on Earth) and in the process to develop tools for detecting life under the most extreme conditions. To address the second question concerning the molecular adaptations of extremophiles, we are studying proteins produced by an organism isolated from near-boiling sulfuric acid hot springs in Beppu, Japan. When this organism is exposed to the highest temperatures it can tolerate, it produces large amounts of a particular type of protein and we have discovered that this protein is closely related to a human protein of previously unknow
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