Exploring Marine Environments for the Identification of Extremophiles and Their Enzymes for Sustainable and Green Bioprocesses

Paola Di Donato, Andrea Buono, Annarita Poli, Ilaria Finore, Gennaro Roberto Abbamondi, Barbara Nicolaus and Licia Lama
Additional contact information
Paola Di Donato: Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, National Research Council of Italy, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy
Andrea Buono: Department of Engineering, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy
Annarita Poli: Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, National Research Council of Italy, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy
Ilaria Finore: Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, National Research Council of Italy, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy
Gennaro Roberto Abbamondi: Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, National Research Council of Italy, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy
Barbara Nicolaus: Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, National Research Council of Italy, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy
Licia Lama: Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, National Research Council of Italy, Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, Naples, Italy

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: Sea environments harbor a wide variety of life forms that have adapted to live in hard and sometimes extreme conditions. Among the marine living organisms, extremophiles represent a group of microorganisms that attract increasing interest in relation to their ability to produce an array of molecules that enable them to thrive in almost every marine environment. Extremophiles can be found in virtually every extreme environment on Earth, since they can tolerate very harsh environmental conditions in terms of temperature, pH, pressure, radiation, etc. Marine extremophiles are the focus of growing interest in relation to their ability to produce biotechnologically useful enzymes, the so-called extremozymes. Thanks to their resistance to temperature, pH, salt, and pollutants, marine extremozymes are promising biocatalysts for new and sustainable industrial processes, thus representing an opportunity for several biotechnological applications. Since the marine microbioma, i.e., the complex of microorganisms living in sea environments, is still largely unexplored finding new species is a central issue for green biotechnology. Here we described the main marine environments where extremophiles can be found, some existing or potential biotechnological applications of marine extremozymes for biofuels production and bioremediation, and some possible approaches for the search of new biotechnologically useful species from marine environments.

Keywords: extremophiles; extremozymes; biofuels; bioremediation; microwave; satellite remote sensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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