Journal article
Microbial life under extreme energy limitation
NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 239-4, Moffett Field, California 94035-1000, USA. tori.m.hoehler@nasa.gov1
A great number of the bacteria and archaea on Earth are found in subsurface environments in a physiological state that is poorly represented or explained by laboratory cultures. Microbial cells in these very stable and oligotrophic settings catabolize 10⁴- to 10⁶-fold more slowly than model organisms in nutrient-rich cultures, turn over biomass on timescales of centuries to millennia rather than hours to days, and subsist with energy fluxes that are 1,000-fold lower than the typical culture-based estimates of maintenance requirements.
To reconcile this disparate state of being with our knowledge of microbial physiology will require a revised understanding of microbial energy requirements, including identifying the factors that comprise true basal maintenance and the adaptations that might serve to minimize these factors.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group UK |
Year: | 2013 |
Pages: | 83-94 |
ISSN: | 17401534 and 17401526 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1038/nrmicro2939 |
ORCIDs: | Jørgensen, Bo Barker |