China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Aspergillus
Published in Se-Kwon Kim, Marine Biochemistry, 2023
V Janakiraman, KG Monisha, V Ramakrishnan, Shiek SSJ Ahmed
Marine bioactive compounds play a key role in human life, mostly for the scope of biotechnology and pharmacology. Owing to their vast diversity and their potential bioactivity, scientists face challenges to come up with novel techniques to isolate bioactive compounds for a more robust future. The seas are the major reservoirs of different organisms with vast diversity, producing various metabolites with diverse biological activities suitable for drug discovery. For centuries, we have been using natural products to produce foods, pigments, insecticides, medicines, fragrances, fertilizers, and so on. Traditionally, terrestrial plants have been used for conventional folk medicine because of their availability and accessibility (Nicoletti and Vinale 2018). Of total pharmaceutical drug sales, natural plant–derived products contribute 25%, while microbial products contribute 12%. The thermal range of the marine environment around the globe ranges from 350°C in underwater hydrothermal vents to deep-freezing temperatures in the Antarctic, with a pressure range of 1–1000 atm, covering photic and nonphotic zones (Joffe and Thomas 1989).
Adaptation of Life to Extreme Conditions
Published in Michael Hehenberger, Zhi Xia, Huanming Yang, Our Animal Connection, 2020
Michael Hehenberger, Zhi Xia, Huanming Yang
At any given depth, the temperature is practically constant over long periods of time. There are no seasonal temperature changes, nor are there any annual changes. No other habitat on earth has such a constant temperature. Only hydrothermal vents are the exception, there the temperature of the water as it emerges from the “black smoker” chimneys may be as high as 400°C. It is kept from boiling by the high hydrostatic pressure. Within a few meters from the vent it may be back down to 2–4°C. Organisms living close to such vents are also very interesting, they are examples of life on earth not dependent on the sun. They obtain nutrients and energy directly from thermal sources and from chemical reactions associated with mineral deposits. These organisms depend on hydrogen sulfide, a compound that is highly toxic to almost all terrestrial life. The fact that life can exist under these extreme conditions may open up the possibility that there may be life elsewhere in the universe.
Adaptation of Life to Extreme Conditions
Published in Michael Hehenberger, Zhi Xia, Our Animal Connection, 2019
At any given depth, the temperature is practically constant over long periods of time. There are no seasonal temperature changes, nor are there any annual changes. No other habitat on earth has such a constant temperature. Only hydrothermal vents are the exception, there the temperature of the water as it emerges from the “black smoker” chimneys may be as high as 400°C. It is kept from boiling by the high hydrostatic pressure. Within a few meters from the vent it may be back down to 2–4°C. Organisms living close to such vents are also very interesting, they are examples of life on earth not dependent on the sun. They obtain nutrients and energy directly from thermal sources and from chemical reactions associated with mineral deposits. These organisms depend on hydrogen sulfide, a compound that is highly toxic to almost all terrestrial life. The fact that life can exist under these extreme conditions may open up the possibility that there may be life elsewhere in the universe.
In situ S isotope analysis and source tracing of pyrite from lacustrine hydrothermal sedimentary rocks: the Chang 7-3 sub-member, Triassic Yanchang Formation, Ordos Basin
Published in Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2021
J. Y. You, Y. Q. Liu, S. S. Song, D. W. Zhou, Y. Y. Yang
As the most widely distributed sulfide on Earth’s crust, pyrite is found in magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks with many types of genesis, including magmatic, hydrothermal, sedimentary and metamorphic processes, etc. In recent years, researchers have made major breakthroughs in studying pyrite particles at the nanoscale (Toner et al., 2009), developing biogenic models of pyrite (Mason et al., 2007) and determining the relationship between pyrite and marine hypoxic events (Adams et al., 2010). Hydrothermal sedimentary rocks are sedimentary rocks formed by the precipitation of sub-seafloor hydrothermal fluid (or magmatic hydrothermal fluid) mixed with seawater (or lake water) (Adachi et al., 1986; Bostroem et al., 1979; Dias & Barriga, 2006; Rona et al., 1984; Zheng et al.,2018) and are the focus of attention in recent years in studies of modern hydrothermal vents. Based on the study of pyrite in modern hydrothermal deposits, the main iron-bearing fluids erupt from submarine hydrothermal vents. Iron particles in the vent are thought to be rapidly oxidised and deposited near the vent and provide nutrients for marine microorganisms (Toner et al., 2009). Less attention has been paid to hydrothermal sedimentary rocks of ancient ‘white smokers’, and a better understanding of pyrite developed in them is required (Wen, 2015).