Survival of Bacteria in Extreme Environments Literature Review

Survival of Bacteria in Extreme Environments Literature Review

Bacteria are diverse and have the ability to survive in different environments. Among these include those with extreme conditions. An instance entails those with higher than normal temperatures, below normal temperatures and alkaline environments. The characteristic is essential is in enabling bacteria to continue existing and propagating. Therefore, they have a significantly higher rate of continue coexisting with other organisms as the characteristics which they possess act in their advantage (Lee et al., 2018). Further, bacteria have the potential to mutate as they seek to adapt to new environments that they are presented to. They aim to ensure that they do not face conditions that would be harmful to them and, thereby, impact negatively upon their ability to survive significantly. Therefore, they can continue multiplying. This narrative aims to provide a review of literature touching on the survival of bacteria in extreme environments

Literature Review

Carlson et al. (2018) conducted a study in which they sought to establish bacteria that is persistent in extreme environments. The environments in question included compost dumping sites, subsurface mines, and hot spring ecosystems. They determined that some spore-forming strains of bacteria were obtained from these environments. Some were thermo-tolerant species, while others were mesophiles. They also established that there was an abundance of Geobacillus. Therefore, the insight confirms the ability of bacteria to survive and continue to propagate in extreme environments.

Beblo-Vranesevic et al. (2018) established that there is no specific correlation between desiccation and radiation tolerance among organisms from diverse extreme environmental conditions. The researchers conducted a culture method in which they grew cells under optimal growth conditions. They determined cell concentrations by counting in a Thoma Chamber. They later on exposed the cells to ionizing radiation. The experiments were conducted under anoxic conditions. The outcome affirmed the view that bacteria can survive under extreme environments, but there is no specific relationship between desiccation and radiation tolerance. However, researchers were keen to note that both desiccation and radiation pose the ability to reduce the viability of bacteria. The situation is often short-lived as bacteria attain the ability to withstand the harmful environments in which they are exposed. As a result, they can continue propagating and increasing in size significantly.

Bang et al. (2018) argue that bacteria can coexist in many other organisms, which are all animals, humans, protists, and plants. They state that microbial organisms do not merely rely on the fitness of their hosts. Instead, they can mutate in ways that will enable them to survive in extreme environments like the intertidal zone, deserts, oligotrophic seas, and hydrothermal vents. Generally, they develop characteristics that protect them from the negative impacts of these environments and, therefore, manage to grow significantly. Bacteria can become used to the different environments which they are exposed to. The situation, thus, enables them to develop specific characteristics through mutation, which generally will allow them to be outstanding in terms of avoiding the harmful outcomes which they might be exposed to under extreme environments. Therefore, the tracts aim to ensure that some level of balance is attained, so the harmful bacteria do not continue to pose the risk of impacting negatively upon the health of people.

It is also established that pathogens, which affect the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, are often subjected to intense pressure, owing to the extreme nature of the environments in which they exist. Examples of these bacteria include; Escherichia coli, Vibrio spp, Campylobacter jejuni, and Shigella spp (Trastoy et al., 2018). However, they fail to bulge under these environments. Instead, they develop several characteristics which enable them to be effective in surviving within these environments (Trenozhnikova & Azizan, 2018). The situation, therefore, makes the tracts to be tolerant of bacteria over time. The condition contributes positively towards enabling bacteria to persist within these environments (Park & Park, 2018). As a result, they can continue propagating, based on the circumstances which they are exposed to. The situation, therefore, makes it possible for bacteria to coexist well with humans as their respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts provide an impeccable environment in which they could live. However, these tracts are often on the look-out for the various bacteria which might bear a significantly high adverse outcomes on them and aim to flush them out. The mechanism is applied to ensure that the health of humans is sustained effectively.

Another environment where bacteria are regularly exposed to significant levels of stress is the food industry. The mechanism is applied with the need to ensure that food is fit for human consumption and does not contain various elements that would affect it negatively. One specific approach done on these foods is desiccation. For some moment, the process adversely affects the viability of bacteria (Esbelin, Santos & Hébraud, 2018). They are exposed to significant levels of pressure, which prevents their ability to propagate. However, it is established that the situation only occurs for some time (Mandracchia et al., 2018). The continued exposure of bacteria to harmful environments eventually improves upon their tolerance levels. The situation is as a result of cellular adaptation (Ripolles-Avila et al., 2018). The situation, therefore, enables the bacteria to have the ability to survive and continue to propagate under these environments (Parra et al., 2018). Given the situation, players within the food industry must establish more desiccation mechanisms, which enable them to be more protective of the food products which they develop. They need to conduct a constant analysis of the various bacteria which are found within the given environments. The situation enables them to determine the specific improvements in terms of desiccation, which they need to take in a bid to prevent them from bearing a negative impact on food.

Bacteria apply various survival tactics within extreme environments. An instance of survival styles used within alkaline conditions include; metal resistance and mutation. Generally, bacteria happen to change their characteristics with the need to have the capacity to cope with the various environments which they are exposed to. An instance is given in the case of Meiothermus and Thiobacillus. These are enriched phylotypes that carry the ability to bear a positive impact on the environment (Sun et al., 2018). For instance, they are useful in the context of carbon and nitrogen-fixing. The process generally enables the bacteria to continue to fix the given elements on plants as they continue to depend on the specific plants. The situation, therefore, provides an impeccable moment for the bacteria to form a symbiotic relationship with the specific plants which require nitrogen fixation (Kisková et al., 2019). On their part, the plants provide the necessary food and shelter to the metabolizing bacteria (Ling et al., 2018). To the extent, the bacteria can continue growing and multiplying (Ratzke & Gore, 2018). The situation is also essential for ensuring that the bacteria continue to survive effectively within the environments which they are exposed to.

Bacteria that can survive in extremely cold environments have specific key features that are essential in improving their ability to survive. The situations enable them to be adapted to cold conditions and, therefore, can survive the adverse outcomes which are present within the various conditions which they are exposed to. One specific feature is the structural adjustment to cold (Tribelli & López, 2018). Under the mechanism, their outside layer becomes thick enough. The situation, therefore, prevents the ability of freezing temperatures from penetrating them. As a result, there is a high chance that they manage to survive within the various environments which they are exposed to and manage to live for long. Another critical feature that bacteria experience is the structural adjustment of enzymes. The enzymes are essential in controlling their body temperatures. As a result, they are crucial to enabling their temperatures to remain balanced even in situations where they are exposed to environments with extremely low temperatures. The situation is, therefore, imperative to improving the condition of these organisms significantly.

Another feature which the bacteria have is the ability to maintain membrane fluidity. The mechanism is highly important as the fluidity enables them to maintain the critical temperatures which are necessary for their continued survival. Therefore, although the organisms might be found in environments with significantly low temperatures, their bodies maintain the level of temperature, which is necessary for their continued survival (Wang et al., 2019). The mechanism is essential in enabling organisms to be outstanding in relation to continuing to operate within their environments. The circumstance also prevents a scenario where the extremely low temperatures which the organisms are exposed to continue to bear a negative impact on them. It helps to improve the level of survival of bacteria to levels at which they can continue to replicate effectively.

Bacterial also has an activation of non-classical metabolism for a cold lifestyle. The aim is to enable them to continue to metabolize their foods appropriately, even in situations where they are exposed to extreme environmental conditions. The concept is important as it is through metabolism that the bacteria have the ability to continue surviving and metabolizing (Hou et al., 2019). Further, they can acquire the necessary energy they need to continue with their activities. The situation also improves upon the ability of bacteria to increase upon the level of temperature within their bodies. Thus, it protects them from being negatively affected by the extreme cold temperatures which they are exposed to.

The organisms also have metabolic traits that are related to the generation of energy. Their rate of production of energy is appropriate in that it enables them to stay afloat despite the extremely cold environments which they might be exposed to (Zhou et al., 2019). As a result, it is possible for them to attain better control of their various situations, therefore, attaining a circumstance in which they could continue growing and metabolizing as deemed necessary. The situation is essential for ensuring that the bacteria have the ease of surviving within the various harmful environments which they are exposed to. They can grow to levels that are deemed desirable.

Bacteria also develop stress resistance mechanisms which enable them to be fully adapted to environments which they would not be fully accustomed to, especially, in line with the cold temperatures of the various areas where they find themselves in. The process is, therefore, essential in improving upon the levels of survival of bacteria and enables them to continue growing in ways that boost upon their ability to survive as deemed appropriate (Lee et al., 2018). Generally, bacteria happen to change their characteristics continually in a bid to develop pertinent features that are essential in aiding their process of survival. To the extent, bacteria can enter new environments that they were not used to. They get used to these environments and, therefore, manage to adopt the specific mechanisms which enable them to survive within (Zheng et al., 2018). It is through the process that the bacteria manage to attain the significant levels of growth and development, which are essential with respect to boosting upon their abilities to survive effectively.

Conclusion

As established from the literature review, bacteria can survive in extreme environments. A major contributing factor to the situation is that they happen to mutate, thereby developing pertinent characteristics that enable them to be outstanding regarding the environments in which they live. Being exposed to a given harsh environment for long enables them to be significantly acquainted with it. As a result, they can be outstanding in light of the circumstances which they are exposed to.

Bang, C., Dagan, T., Deines, P., Dubilier, N., Duschl, W. J., Fraune, S., … & Picazo, D. (2018). Metaorganisms in extreme environments: do microbes play a role in organismal adaptation?. Zoology, 127, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2018.02.004

Beblo-Vranesevic, K., Bohmeier, M., Perras, A. K., Schwendner, P., Rabbow, E., Moissl-Eichinger, C., … & Ehrenfreund, P. (2018). Lack of correlation of desiccation and radiation tolerance in microorganisms from diverse extreme environments tested under anoxic conditions. FEMS microbiology letters, 365(6), fny044. https://academic.oup.com/femsle/article/365/6/fny044/4883205

Carlson, C., Singh, N. K., Bibra, M., Sani, R. K., & Venkateswaran, K. (2018). Pervasiveness of UVC 254-resistant Geobacillus strains in extreme environments. Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 102(4), 1869-1887. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-017-8712-8

Esbelin, J., Santos, T., & Hébraud, M. (2018). Desiccation: an environmental and food industry stress that bacteria commonly face. Food microbiology, 69, 82-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2017.07.017

Hou, Y., Qiao, C., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Ren, X., Wei, Q., & Wang, Q. (2019). Cold-adapted glutathione S-transferases from Antarctic psychrophilic bacterium Halomonas sp. ANT108: Heterologous expression, characterization, and oxidative resistance. Marine drugs, 17(3), 147. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/17/3/147

Kisková, J., Stramová, Z., Javorský, P., Sedláková-Kaduková, J., & Pristaš, P. (2019). Analysis of the bacterial community from high alkaline (pH> 13) drainage water at a brown mud disposal site near Žiar nad Hronom (Banská Bystrica region, Slovakia) using 454 pyrosequencing. Folia microbiologica, 64(1), 83-90. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12223-018-0634-z

Lee, G. L. Y., Ahmad, S. A., Yasid, N. A., Zulkharnain, A., Convey, P., Johari, W. L. W., … & Shukor, M. Y. (2018). Biodegradation of phenol by cold-adapted bacteria from Antarctic soils. Polar Biology, 41(3), 553-562. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-017-2216-y

Ling, H. L., Rahmat, Z., Bakar, F. D. A., Murad, A. M. A., & Illias, R. M. (2018). Secretome analysis of alkaliphilic bacterium Bacillus lehensis G1 in response to pH changes. Microbiological research, 215, 46-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micres.2018.06.006

Mandracchia, B., Palpacuer, J., Nazzaro, F., Bianco, V., Rega, R., Ferraro, P., & Grilli, S. (2018). Biospeckle decorrelation quantifies the performance of alginate-encapsulated probiotic bacteria. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 25(1), 1-6. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8370067/

Microbiology References

Park, C., & Park, W. (2018). Survival and energy producing strategies of alkane degraders under extreme conditions and their biotechnological potential. Frontiers in microbiology, 9, 1081. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01081/full

Parra, A., Toro, M., Jacob, R., Navarrete, P., Troncoso, M., Figueroa, G., & Reyes-Jara, A. (2018). Antimicrobial effect of copper surfaces on bacteria isolated from poultry meat. brazilian journal of microbiology, 49, 113-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjm.2018.06.008 

Ratzke, C., & Gore, J. (2018). Modifying and reacting to the environmental pH can drive bacterial interactions. PLoS biology, 16(3), e2004248. https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?rev=1&id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2004248

Ripolles-Avila, C., Ríos-Castillo, A. G., & Rodríguez-Jerez, J. J. (2018). Development of a peroxide biodetector for a direct detection of biofilms produced by catalase-positive bacteria on food-contact surfaces. CyTA-Journal of Food, 16(1), 506-515. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19476337.2017.1418434

Sun, W., Xiao, E., Häggblom, M., Krumins, V., Dong, Y., Sun, X., … & Yan, B. (2018). Bacterial survival strategies in an alkaline tailing site and the physiological mechanisms of dominant phylotypes as revealed by metagenomic analyses. Environmental science & technology, 52(22), 13370-13380. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.8b03853

Trastoy, R., Manso, T., Fernandez-Garcia, L., Blasco, L., Ambroa, A., Del Molino, M. P., … & Tomas, M. (2018). Mechanisms of bacterial tolerance and persistence in the gastrointestinal and respiratory environments. Clinical microbiology reviews, 31(4), e00023-18. DOI: 10.1128/CMR.00023-18

Trenozhnikova, L., & Azizan, A. (2018). Discovery of actinomycetes from extreme environments with potential to produce novel antibiotics. Central Asian Journal of Global Health, 7(1). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6393050/

Tribelli, P. M., & López, N. I. (2018). Reporting key features in cold-adapted bacteria. Life, 8(1), 8. https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/8/1/8

Wang, Y., Hou, Y., Wang, Y., Lu, Z., Song, C., Xu, Y., … & Wang, Q. (2019). Cloning, expression and enzymatic characteristics of a 2-Cys peroxiredoxin from Antarctic sea-ice bacterium Psychrobacter sp. ANT206. International journal of biological macromolecules, 129, 1047-1055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2018.09.103

Zheng, Z., Zhang, D., Li, W., Qin, W., Huang, X., & Lv, L. (2018). Substrates removal and growth kinetic characteristics of a heterotrophic nitrifying-aerobic denitrifying bacterium, Acinetobacter harbinensis HITLi7T at 2 C. Bioresource technology, 259, 286-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2018.03.065

Zhou, Y., Chen, X., Li, X., Han, Y., Wang, Y., Yao, R., & Li, S. (2019). Purification and characterization of a new cold-adapted and thermo-tolerant chitosanase from marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. SY39. Molecules, 24(1), 183. https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/1/183