Life in a multi-extreme environment: <italic>Thermococcales</italic> living in deep sea hydrothermal vents

Abstract

Thermococcales are commonly the dominant microbes in the black chimneys of deep sea hydrothermal vents, which represent one of the most extreme environments on earth and are similar to the conditions of the early earth. Thermococcales have adapted to the dramatic environmental fluctuations of physical and chemical factors in hydrothermal vents. They usually have wide growth ranges (over 40°C for temperature, over 5 pH units for pH, and over 80 MPa for pressure growth ranges) but small genome sizes ( Thermococcales to various extreme environments have reported that some of their unique metabolic pathways are related to adaptation to multiple extreme environments. These metabolic pathways include compatible solute, energetic metabolism, membrane lipid component, amino acid metabolism, and antioxidation pathways. Exploring these pathways further revealed that Thermococcales may have common adaptation strategies to multiple extreme environments. Studying the common adaptation mechanisms of Thermococcales will reveal the survival strategies of microorganisms in low-energetic and high-temperature extreme environments such as deep biospheres or extraterritorial habitats. It will also provide valuable research models and ideas for investigating metabolic traits of early life and further enhance our understanding of the origin of life. Finally, it will also provide theoretic references and biological materials for use in synthetic biology research and industrial applications.