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Integrative Physiology in the Proteomics and Post-Genomics Age pp 169–200Cite as

Biochemical Adaptation to Extreme Environments

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Abstract

Physiology can be viewed as the collection of mechanisms and processes that allows organisms to deal with challenges from both internal (e.g., exercise, growth, reproduction) and external (e.g., variations in temperature, oxygen and water availability, salinity, pressure, radiation, heavy metals, etc.) sources. In this chapter we focus on solutions to some of the external challenges to life in extreme environments. This subject is a huge one because life on Earth has radiated into every conceivable environment, from the frigid Antarctic to boiling hot springs, from the ocean depths to the tops of mountains, from hypersaline lakes to the driest deserts, and many more. We mainly consider biochemical and molecular solutions by vertebrate animals to environmental challenges of low oxygen and low temperature because these hold lessons that can be applied to the human condition and medical concerns. However, the reader should be aware that the extremes of vertebrate life are bested on every front by the capabilities of invertebrates, plants, bacteria, and archaea and many excellent resources explore life at the extremes from different perspectives; selected texts include those by Hochachka and Somero (1), Schmid-Neilsen (2), Ashcroft (3), Margesin and Schinner (4), Willmer et al. (5), Lutz et al. (6), and Gerday and Glansdorff (7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biochemistry, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    Kenneth B. Storey & Janet M. Storey

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  1. Kenneth B. Storey
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

    Wolfgang Walz PhD

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Storey, K.B., Storey, J.M. (2005). Biochemical Adaptation to Extreme Environments. In: Walz, W. (eds) Integrative Physiology in the Proteomics and Post-Genomics Age. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-925-7:169

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