Tarek Moussa

Citation:

Moussa, T. A. A., and N. M. Khalil, "Chapter 10 - Extremozymes from extremophilic microorganisms as sources of bioremediation", Microbial Extremozymes: Academic Press, pp. 135 - 146, 2022.

Abstract:

Extremophiles are a group of organisms growing in a wide range of extreme environmental conditions. The extremophilic microorganisms are diverse and are classified into psychrophiles (− 2°C to 20°C), thermophiles (55–121°C), piezophiles (> 500atm), halophiles (2–5M NaCl or KCl), metallophiles (high concentrations of metals, e.g., copper, zinc, lead, cadmium, and arsenic), alkaliphiles (pH>8), and acidophiles (pH<4) according to the extreme environmental conditions in which they grow and can tolerate. The aims of this chapter are to characterize the extremophilic microorganisms and their physiological and molecular efficiencies in bioremediation processes. Interestingly, the remarkable adaptative abilities of extremophilic microorganisms make them an attractive source of biocatalysts for bioremediation. Bioremediation is an important technology for the cleanup of environmental contaminants. Further attention has also been directed to isolation, identification, and characterization of biocatalysts from extremophilic microorganisms, most of them enzymes named extremozymes, which are well adapted to be active also at extreme conditions. Extremozymes are expected to fill the gap between biological and chemical industrial processes because of the remarkable properties of these enzymes. Even though more than 3000 different enzymes have been identified till now, and many of these were used in industrial and biotechnological applications, the enzyme toolbox at the present is still not enough to present demands. A major cause for this is the fact that many available enzymes do not withstand industrial reaction conditions.

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