The DNA that codes for the enzyme is unlike the DNA for any known cellulase; it was traced back to a never-before-seen
extremophile. "It's very strange to find one that doesn't fit into a well-defined category," Graham says.
The slideshows give an overall understanding of the
extremophile research and the other sections provide excellent details and extend the information presented in the slideshows.
However, an enzyme from an
extremophile survives the process.
In real life, organisms with similar traits exist, such as the "
extremophile" red alga Galdieria sulphuraria.
They currently are investigating which already-known exoplanets potentially might host
extremophile life or habitable moons.
One such
extremophile, Desulfonatronum thiodismutans, lives in Mono's mud without sunlight, getting energy from sulfates and other inorganic compounds.
If life began in
extremophile conditions, as heat-loving archaea suggest, did life have to struggle hard to adapt to the radically different Earth of today?
Microbacterium hatanonis, an unusual "
extremophile" (organisms inhabiting extreme environments).
Kane and Gelino are hard at work determining which already-discovered exoplanets might be candidates for
extremophile life or habitable moons.