| Edition |
Pbk. ed. |
| Description |
1 online resource (xiii, 210 pages) : illustrations |
| Note |
Originally published: New York : Plenum Press, ©1998. |
| Bibliography |
"Further reading and Internet links": pages 175-187. |
| Note |
Includes index. |
| Contents |
Of extremists and eccentrics : a personal preface -- 1. Introduction : life and its limits. Things one needs for a living -- What do we mean by "normal" after all? -- The limits of life on Earth -- 2. Extreme environments and their inhabitants. Profile : Thomas Brock and the discovery of the hyperthermophiles -- Some like it hot : life around geysers and volcanoes -- Stay cool : life at subzero temperatures -- Sidelines : of polar bears and penguins -- vertebrate life at the poles -- Living under pressure : the deep sea -- Sidelines : on diving -- A light in the dark : luminescent creatures of the deep sea -- Travel to the center of the Earth : the deep subsurface as a biotope -- Extra dry : survival in the desert -- Saturated with salt : the (allegedly) dead sea as a biotope -- Acid heads and basic needs : life at extreme pH -- Nature's eco-brigade : oil-degrading bacteria -- 3. The cell's survival kit. The heat shock response -- Sidelines : how to hunt for stress proteins -- Heat shock proteins acting as molecular chaperones -- Antifreeze and cold shock proteins -- Focus : structure and function of the heat shock protein groel -- Adaptations by changes of amino acid sequences -- Chemical adaptations : small molecules -- Some new tricks from the cell's repair workshop -- Focus : the growing family of photolyase enzymes -- Sidelines : how hot love helps archaebacteria to survive -- Waiting for better times : sporulation as a survival strategy -- Focus : the case of the missing alanine -- a biochemical detective story -- Two's company : symbiosis helps species to spread in hostile environments. |
|
4. Relevance of extremes for biotechnology and medicine. An extremely short history of biotechnology -- Hyperthermophilic enzymes -- Profile : Kary Mullis and the polymerase chain reaction -- Preservation by freezing and freeze-drying -- Profile : Pierre Douzou and the invention of cryoenzymology -- High-pressure biotechnology -- Bacteriorhodopsin as an optoelectronic component -- Extremophiles and disease : acid-resistant bacteria in the stomach -- Medical applications of heat shock proteins -- 5. Extremists and the tree of life. The origin of life -- the primeval earth as an extreme habitat -- From building blocks to chain molecules -- Profile : Stanley Miller and the primordial soup -- Ribozymes -- relics of a lost world? -- Archaebacteria : a new, very old domain of life -- Focus : ribozymes with new activities and new structures -- Methanococcus jannaschii : decoding an archaebacterium -- Do we all come out of the heat? -- Focus : inteins everywhere -- a surprising by-product of the methanococcus sequencing -- Searching for gaia : life on earth as a hyperorganism -- Profile : James Lovelock -- a heretic? -- 6. Life beyond Earth. How to detect life on a planet -- Profile : Carl Sagan and the quest for life in the universe -- Is there life on Mars? -- Sidelines : first results of mars pathfinder and mars global surveyor -- Strange worlds : the moons of the big gas planets -- Are there any planets orbiting other stars? -- The spore's guide to the galaxy -- 7. Glossary -- 8. Further reading and Internet links. |
| Note |
Print version record. |
| Summary |
This volume describes life on Earth not by the rules but by the exceptions to them, looking at the most hostile habitats of our environment and their most hardened inhabitants. In recent years, scientists have discovered many single-cell creatures that exist in -- in fact, are perfectly adapted to -- extreme environments that were considered uninhabitable just one or two decades ago. The author analyzes survival strategies of these single-cell creatures in a way accessible to lay readers but still in touch with the latest research in areas such as heat-shock proteins and genome sequencing. This work describes the significance of research on such organisms for fields including biotechnology, medicine, and research into the origin and early evolution of life, and explores the possibility of life on other planets. |
| Local Note |
EBSCOhost Science Reference Center |
| Subject |
Extreme environments.
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Adaptation (Biology)
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Stress (Physiology)
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Life -- Origin.
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SCIENCE -- Microscopes & Microscopy.
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NATURE -- Animals -- Wildlife.
|
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Adaptation (Biology) (OCoLC)fst00796474
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Extreme environments. (OCoLC)fst00919061
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Life -- Origin.
(OCoLC)fst00998169
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Stress (Physiology) (OCoLC)fst01134907
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ADAPTAÇÃO BIOLÓGICA.
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ESTRESSE PSICOLÓGICO.
|
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
|
| Other Form: |
Print version: Gross, Michael, 1963- Life on the edge. Pbk. ed. Cambridge, Mass. : Perseus Books, ©2001 0738204455 9780738204451 (OCoLC)46334979 |
| ISBN |
9781429493857 (electronic book) |
|
1429493852 (electronic book) |
|
9780465011476 |
|
0465011470 |
|
9780738204451 |
|
0738204455 |
|
