An electron microscopic study of microorganisms: from influenza virus to deep-sea microorganisms

Enzymes from Deep-sea Microorganisms

Enzymes from Deep-sea Microorganisms

Barophiles: deep-sea microorganisms adapted to an extreme environment.

The deep-sea environment is characterized by high pressure and low temperature but in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents regions of extremely high temperature exist. Deep-sea microorganisms have specially adapted features that enable them to live and grow in this extreme environment. Recent research on the physiology and molecular biology of deep-sea barophilic bacteria has identified pressure-...

Enantioselective Utilization of D-Amino Acids by Deep-Sea Microorganisms

Microorganisms that utilize various D-amino acids (DAAs) were successfully isolated from deep-sea sediments. The isolates were phylogenetically assigned to Alphaproteobacteria, Gammmaproteobacteria, and Bacilli. Some of the isolates exhibited high enantioselective degradation activities to various DAAs. In particular, the Alphaproteobacteria Nautella sp. strain A04V exhibited robust growth in m...

Deep-sea microorganisms and the origin of the eukaryotic cell

Living cells are deeply divided into two enormously divergent levels of complexity: prokaryotic and eukaryotic. Eukaryotes are thought to have developed from prokaryotic predecessors; however the large differences in their cellular structures results in equally large questions of how the process might have occurred. In 2012, in the deep-sea off the coast of Japan, we discovered a unique microor...