Prospecting Microbial Extremophiles as Valuable Resources of Biomolecules for Biotechnological Applications

Life has been said to exist in virtually all habitats. Of great astonishment is existence of life in habitats that were considered to be lethal and from which viable organisms were found to survive and even proliferate. Organisms that are able to tolerate these environments are referred to as extremophiles. Examples among many others include thermophiles and hyperthermophiles (tolerant to high temperature), psychrophiles (tolerant to low temperature), barophiles (tolerant to high atmospheric pressure), xerophiles (tolerant to dryness), metallophiles (tolerant to heavy metals). The developments of distinctive biomolecules and machineries that can function under these acute situations have allowed extremophiles to tolerate, adapt and survive. The studies of these organisms, their habitats, biomolecules and products have been of great potential in numerous biotechnological applications, though many biotechnological processes are yet to adopt the use of extremophiles in their production. This article thus seeks to harness the various factors involved in microbial extremicity, current and possible future biotechnological applications of inherent potentials of these extremophiles and their biomolecules, towards sustainability of human life and his environments.