Abstract
Accelerating technological development has made it possible for humans to reach to one of the most remote parts of the Earth, the deepest areas of the sea, also called the Earth’s last frontier. Rare, previously hidden ecosystems with vast biological diversity can be found here. These communities and their inhabitants are starting to feel the pressure of human impact, being regarded as having an enormous potential in the development of new products such as pharmaceuticals, molecular probes, enzymes, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and agrichemicals. However, compared to the bioprospecting activity of these areas, an increasing pressure on deep-sea fisheries is probably an even more serious threat for the deep-sea communities, and a recent publication reports that deep-sea fishes qualify as endangered. Sustainable use of the deep sea and the organisms that inhabit it should thus be aimed for.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson OF, Clark MR (2003) Analysis of the bycatch in the fishery for orange roughy, Hoplostethus atlanticus, on the South Tasmanian Rise. Mar Freshw Res 54:643–652
Atomi H (2005) Recent progress towards the application of hyperthermophiles and their enzymes. Curr Opin Chem Biol 9:166–173
Bowman JP, McCammon SA, Brown MV, Nichols DS, McMeekin TA (1997) Diversity and association of psychrophilic bacteria in Antarctic sea ice. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:3068–3078
van den Burg B (2003) Extremophiles as a source for novel enzymes. Curr Opin Microbiol 6:213–218
Butler PJ, Koslow JA, Snelgrove PVR, Juniper SK (2001) Review of the benthic biodiversity of the deep sea. CSIRO Marine Research, Australia
Cailliet GM, Andrews AH, Burton EJ, Watters DL, Kline DE, Ferry-Graham LA (2001) Age determination and validation studies of marine fishes: do deep-dwellers live longer? Exp Gerontol 36:739–764
Cavicchioli R, Siddiqui KS, Andrews D, Sowers KR (2002) Low-temperature extremophiles and their applications. Curr Opin Biotechnol 13(3):253–261
Chien A, Edgar DB, Trela JM (1976) Deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase from the extreme thermophile Thermus aquaticus. J Bacteriol 127(3):1550–1557
Daniel RM, Cowan DA (2000) Biomolecular stability and life at high temperatures. Cell Mol Life Sci 57(2):250–264
DeLong EF (1997) Marine microbial diversity: the tip of the iceberg. Trends Biotechnol 15:203–207
Demirjian DC, Moris-Varas F, Cassidy CS (2001) Enzymes from extremophiles. Curr Opin Chem Biol 5:144–151
Devine JA, Baker KD, Haedrich RL (2006) Fisheries: deep sea fishes qualify as endangered. Nature 439(7072):29
Edwards KJ, Bach W, McCollom TM (2005) Geomicrobiology in oceanography: microbe–mineral interactions at and below the seafloor. Trends Microbiol 13(9):449–456
Egorova K, Antranikian G (2005) Industrial relevance of thermophilic Archaea. Curr Opin Microbiol 8:649–655
Eichler J (2001) Biotechnological uses of archaeal extremozymes. Biotechnol Adv 19:261–278
Ewart KV, Lin Q, Hew CL (1999) Structure, function and evolution of anifreeze proteins. Cell Mol Life Sci 55:271–283
Fields PA (2001) Protein function at thermal extremes: balancing stability and flexibility. Comp Biochem Physiol 129(2–3):417–431
Fujiwara S (2002) Extremophiles: developments of their special function and potential resources. J Biosci Bioeng 94(6):518–525
Georlette D, Blaise V, Collins T, D’Amico S, Gratia E, Hoyoux A, Marx JC, Sonan G, Feller G, Gerday C (2004) Some like it cold: biocatalysis at low temperatures. FEMS Microbiol Rev 28(1):25–42
Gomes J, Steiner W (2004) The biocatalytic potential of extremophiles and extremozymes. Food Technol Biotechnol 42(4):223–235
Guezennec J (2002) Deep-sea hydrothermal vents: a new source of innovative bacterial exopolysaccharides of biotechnological interest? J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 29(4):204–208
Gullo VP, McAlpine J, Lam KS, Baker D, Petersen F (2006) Drug discovery from natural products. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 33(7):523–531
Haefner B (2003) Drugs from the deep: marine natural products as drug candidates. Drug Discov Today 8(12):536–544
Horikoshi K (1998) Barophiles: deep-sea microorganisms adapted to an extreme environment. Curr Opin Microbiol 1:291–295
Hoyoux A, Blaise V, Collins T, D’amico S, Gratia E, Huston AL, Marx JC, Sonan G, Zeng Y, Feller G, Gerday C (2004) Extreme catalysts from low-temperature environments. J Biosci Bioeng 98(5):317–330
Kiriakoulakis K, Bett BJ, White M, Wolff GA (2004) Organic biogeochemistry of the Darwin Mounds, a deep-water coral ecosystem, of the NE Atlantic. Deep Sea Res Part I: Oceanogr Res Pap 51(12):1937–1954
Krüger M, Treude T, Wolters H, Nauhaus K, Boetius A (2005) Microbial methane turnover in different marine habitats palaeogeography. Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 227(1–3):6–17
Lack M, Short K, Willock A (2003) Managing risk and uncertainty in deep-sea fisheries: lessons from Orange Roughy. TRAFFIC Oceania and WWF Australia (http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/orangeroughy.pdf)
Li X, Qin L (2005) Metagenomics-based drug discovery and marine microbial diversity. Trends Biotechnol 23(11):539–543
Lopez-Garcia P, Forterre P (2000) DNA topology and the thermal stress response, a tale from mesophiles and hyperthermophiles. Bioessays 22(8):738–746
Mancuso Nichols CA, Guezennec J, Bowman JP (2005) Exopolysaccharides from extreme marine environments with special consideration of the southern ocean, sea ice, and deep-sea hydrothermal vents: a review. Mar Biotechnol 7:253–271
Margesin R, Schinner F (1997) Efficiency of indigenous and inoculated cold-adapted soil microorganisms for biodegradation of diesel oil in alpine soils. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:2660–2664
Mattila P, Korpela J, Tenkanen T, Pitkanen K (1991) Fidelity of DNA synthesis by the Thermococcus litoralis DNA polymerase—an extremely heat stable enzyme with proofreading activity. Nucleic Acids Res 19(18):4967–4973
Maugeri TL, Gugliandolo C, Caccamo D, Stackebrandt E (2002) Three novel halotolerant and thermophilic geobacillus strains from shallow marine vents. Syst Appl Microbiol 25:450–455
Miyadoh S (1993) Research on antibiotic screening in Japan over the last decade a producing microorganisms approach. Actinomycetologica 9:100–106
Mombelli E, Shehi E, Fusi P, Tortora P (2002) Exploring hyperthermophilic proteins under pressure: theoretical aspects and experimental findings. Biochim Biophys Acta 1595(1–2):392–396
Morita Y, Nakamura T, Hasan Q, Murakami Y, Yokoyama K, Tamiya E (1997) Cold-active enzymes from cold-adapted bacteria. J Am Oil Chem Soc 74:441–444
Nakasone K, Ikegami A, Kato C, Usami R, Horikoshi K (1998) Mechanisms of gene expression controlled by pressure in deep-sea microorganisms. Extremophiles 2(3):149–154
Prieur D (1992) Microbiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. TIBTECH 15:242–244
Reeve JN, Bailey KA, Li WT, Marc F, Sandman K, Soares DJ (2004) Archaeal histones: structures, stability and DNA binding. Biochem Soc Trans 32:227–230
Roberts JM, Long D, Wilson JB, Mortensen PB, Gage JD (2003) The cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa (Scleractinia) and enigmatic seabed mounds along the north-east Atlantic margin: are they related? Mar Pollut Bull 46(1):7–20
Salomon CE, Magarvey NA, Sherman DH (2004) Merging the potential of microbial genetics with biological and chemical diversity: an even brighter future for marine natural product drug discovery. Nat Prod Rep 21:105–121
Schiraldi C, De Rosa M (2002) The production of biocatalysts and biomolecules from extremophiles. Trends Biotechnol 20:515–521
Sujatha P, Bapi Raju KVVSN, Ramana T (2005) Studies on a new marine streptomycete BT-408 producing polyketide antibiotic SBR-22 effective against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Microbiol Res 160(2):119–126
Tarasov VG, Gebruk AV, Mironov AN, Moskalev LI (2005) Deep-sea and shallow-water hydrothermal vent communities: two different phenomena? Chem Geol 224(1–3):5–39
Tehei M, Zaccai G (2005) Adaptation to extreme environments: macromolecular dynamics in complex systems. Biochim Biophys Acta 1724(3):404–410
Tunnicliffe V, Thomson R (1999) The endeavour hot vents area: a pilot marine protected area in Canada’s pacific ocean. Report for Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Van Dover CL, Lutz RA (2004) Experimental ecology at deep-sea hydrothermal vents: a perspective. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 300(1–2):273–307
Watling I, Norse EA (1998) Disturbance of the seabed by mobile fishing gear: a comparison to forest clear cutting. Conserv Biol 12(6):1180–1197
Whitman WB, Coleman DC, Wiebe WJ (1998) Prokaryotes: the unseen majority. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:6578–6583
Williams ST, Goodfellow M, Alderson G, Wllington EM, Sneath PH, Sacki MJ (1983) Numerical classification of Streptomyces and related genera. J Gen Microbiol 129:1747–1813
Yayanos AA (1995) Microbiology to 10,500 meters in the deep sea. Annu Rev Microbiol 49:777–805
Zierenberg RA, Adams MWW, Arp AJ (2000) Life in extreme environments: hydrothermal vents. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97(24):12961–12962
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Synnes, M. Bioprospecting of organisms from the deep sea: scientific and environmental aspects. Clean Techn Environ Policy 9, 53–59 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-006-0062-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-006-0062-7