The halophiles, named after the Greek word for "salt-loving", are extremophiles that thrive in high salt concentrations. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, such as the alga Dunaliella salina and fungus Wallemia ichthyophaga. Some well-known species give off a red color from carotenoid compounds, notably bacteriorhodopsin. Halophiles can be found in water bodies with salt concentration more than five times greater than that of the ocean, such as the Great Salt Lake in Utah, Owens Lake in California, the Urmia Lake in Iran, the Dead Sea, and in evaporation ponds. They are theorized to be a possible analogues for modeling extremophiles that might live in the salty subsurface water ocean of Jupiter's Europa and similar moons.
Mycobacterium is a genus of over 190 species in the phylum Actinomycetota, assigned its own family, Mycobacteriaceae. This genus includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis and leprosy in humans. The Greek prefix myco- means 'fungus', alluding to this genus' mold-like colony surfaces. Since this genus has cell walls with Gram-positive and Gram-negative features, acid-fast staining is used to emphasize their resistance to acids, compared to other cell types.
Artemia is a genus of aquatic crustaceans also known as brine shrimp. It is the only genus in the family Artemiidae. The first historical record of the existence of Artemia dates back to the first half of the 10th century AD from Urmia Lake, Iran, with an example called by an Iranian geographer an "aquatic dog," although the first unambiguous record is the report and drawings made by Schlösser in 1757 of animals from Lymington, England. Artemia populations are found worldwide in inland saltwater lakes, but not in oceans. Artemia are able to avoid cohabiting with most types of predators, such as fish, by their ability to live in waters of very high salinity.
The Chlamydiota are a bacterial phylum and class whose members are remarkably diverse, including pathogens of humans and animals, symbionts of ubiquitous protozoa, and marine sediment forms not yet well understood. All of the Chlamydiota that humans have known about for many decades are obligate intracellular bacteria; in 2020 many additional Chlamydiota were discovered in ocean-floor environments, and it is not yet known whether they all have hosts. Historically it was believed that all Chlamydiota had a peptidoglycan-free cell wall, but studies in the 2010s demonstrated a detectable presence of peptidoglycan, as well as other important proteins.
Corynebacterium is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria and most are aerobic. They are bacilli (rod-shaped), and in some phases of life they are, more specifically, club-shaped, which inspired the genus name.
Cryptobiosis or anabiosis is a metabolic state of life entered by an organism in response to adverse environmental conditions such as desiccation, freezing, and oxygen deficiency. In the cryptobiotic state, all measurable metabolic processes stop, preventing reproduction, development, and repair. When environmental conditions return to being hospitable, the organism will return to its metabolic state of life as it was prior to the cryptobiosis.
Cyclophilins (CYPs) are a family of proteins named after their ability to bind to ciclosporin, an immunosuppressant which is usually used to suppress rejection after internal organ transplants. They are found in all domains of life. These proteins have peptidyl prolyl isomerase activity, which catalyzes the isomerization of peptide bonds from trans form to cis form at proline residues and facilitates protein folding.
The Anopheles gambiae complex consists of at least seven morphologically indistinguishable species of mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles. The complex was recognised in the 1960s and includes the most important vectors of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly of the most dangerous malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. It is one of the most efficient malaria vectors known. The An. gambiae mosquito additionally transmits Wuchereria bancrofti which causes lymphatic filariasis, a symptom of which is elephantiasis.
A microbial cyst is a resting or dormant stage of a microorganism, usually a bacterium or a protist or rarely an invertebrate animal, that helps the organism to survive in unfavorable environmental conditions. It can be thought of as a state of suspended animation in which the metabolic processes of the cell are slowed and the cell ceases all activities like feeding and locomotion. Encystment, the formation of the cyst, also helps the microbe to disperse easily, from one host to another or to a more favorable environment. When the encysted microbe reaches an environment favorable to its growth and survival, the cyst wall breaks down by a process known as excystation. In excystment, the exact stimulus is unknown for most protists.
Delta endotoxins (δ-endotoxins) are pore-forming toxins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis species of bacteria. They are useful for their insecticidal action and are the primary toxin produced by Bt maize/corn. During spore formation the bacteria produce crystals of such proteins that are also known as parasporal bodies, next to the endospores; as a result some members are known as a parasporin. The Cyt (cytolytic) toxin group is a group of delta-endotoxins different from the Cry group.
Cyclic di-GMP is a second messenger used in signal transduction in a wide variety of bacteria. Cyclic di-GMP is not known to be used by archaea, and has only been observed in eukaryotes in Dictyostelium. The biological role of cyclic di-GMP was first uncovered when it was identified as an allosteric activator of a cellulose synthase found in Gluconacetobacter xylinus in order to produce microbial cellulose.
Gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor subunit theta is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GABRQ gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a subunit of the GABAA receptor.
Artemia salina is a species of brine shrimp – aquatic crustaceans that are more closely related to Triops and cladocerans than to true shrimp. It belongs to a lineage that does not appear to have changed much in 100 million years.
The Synergistota is a phylum of anaerobic bacteria that show Gram-negative staining and have rod/vibrioid cell shape. Although Synergistota have a diderm cell envelope, the genes for various proteins involved in lipopolysaccharides biosynthesis have not yet been detected in Synergistota, indicating that they may have an atypical outer cell envelope. The Synergistota inhabit a majority of anaerobic environments including animal gastrointestinal tracts, soil, oil wells, and wastewater treatment plants and they are also present in sites of human diseases such as cysts, abscesses, and areas of periodontal disease. Due to their presence at illness related sites, the Synergistota are suggested to be opportunistic pathogens but they can also be found in healthy individuals in the microbiome of the umbilicus and in normal vaginal flora. Species within this phylum have also been implicated in periodontal disease, gastrointestinal infections and soft tissue infections. Other species from this phylum have been identified as significant contributors in the degradation of sludge for production of biogas in anaerobic digesters and are potential candidates for use in renewable energy production through their production of hydrogen gas. All of the known Synergistota species and genera are presently part of a single class (Synergistia), order (Synergistiales), and family (Synergistaceae).
The MON 810 corn is a genetically modified maize used around the world. It is a Zea mays line known as YieldGard from the company Monsanto. This plant is a genetically modified organism (GMO) designed to combat crop loss due to insects. There is an inserted gene in the DNA of MON 810 which allows the plant to make a protein that harms insects that try to eat it. The inserted gene is from the Bacillus thuringiensis which produces the Bt protein that is poisonous to insects in the order Lepidoptera, including the European Corn Borer.
Late embryogenesis abundant proteins are proteins in plants, and some bacteria and invertebrates that protect against protein aggregation due to desiccation or osmotic stresses associated with low temperature. LEA proteins were initially discovered accumulating late in embryogenesis of cotton seeds. Although abundant in seeds and pollens, LEA proteins have been found to protect against desiccation, cold, or high salinity in a variety of organisms, including the bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans, nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, Artemia, and rotifers.
Packera franciscana is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name San Francisco Peaks groundsel, or San Francisco Peaks ragwort. It is endemic to Arizona in the United States, where it is known only from the San Francisco Peaks in Coconino County. It is threatened by recreational activities in its habitat. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.
Octopus aquaculture describes the captive-raising of octopuses and commercial sale of their meat. A complex and labor-intensive form of farming, octopus aquaculture is being driven by strong market demand in the Mediterranean and in South American and Asian countries. Annual global demand for octopus more than doubled from 1980 to 2019, from roughly 180,000 to about 370,000 tons. The supply of octopus has been constrained by overfishing in many key fisheries and proponents of farming suggest human-induced culturing could help restock natural populations. Opponents of the nascent industry argue that cephalopod intelligence and emotional capacity, as well as the solitary and carnivorous character of octopuses, make them particularly ill-suited to intensive, captive breeding. Commercial sale may stimulate market demand, hastening rather than offsetting the decline in wild stocks. An announcement that a Spanish firm would begin octopus aquaculture as early as 2022 prompted ethical and scientific controversy.
Artemia monica, the Mono Lake brine shrimp, is a species of brine shrimp, endemic to Mono Lake in California, United States.
Exiguobacterium artemiae is a Gram-positive bacterium from the genus of Exiguobacterium which has been isolated from the shrimp Artemia franciscana.
