Psychrophiles or cryophiles (adj. ''psychrophilic'' or ''cryophilic'') are
extremophilic
An extremophile (from Latin ' meaning "extreme" and Greek ' () meaning "love") is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme tempe ...
organism
In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and ...
s that are capable of
growth
Growth may refer to:
Biology
* Auxology, the study of all aspects of human physical growth
* Bacterial growth
* Cell growth
* Growth hormone, a peptide hormone that stimulates growth
* Human development (biology)
* Plant growth
* Secondary growth ...
and
reproduction
Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual or ...
in low temperatures, ranging from
to
. They have an optimal growth temperature at .
They are found in places that are permanently cold, such as the polar regions and the deep sea. They can be contrasted with
thermophile
A thermophile is an organism—a type of extremophile—that thrives at relatively high temperatures, between . Many thermophiles are archaea, though they can be bacteria or fungi. Thermophilic eubacteria are suggested to have been among the earl ...
s, which are organisms that thrive at unusually high temperatures, and
mesophile
A mesophile is an organism that grows best in moderate temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, with an optimum growth range from . The optimum growth temperature for these organisms is 37°C. The term is mainly applied to microorganisms. Organi ...
s at intermediate temperatures. Psychrophile is Greek for 'cold-loving', .
Many such organisms are
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...
or
archaea
Archaea ( ; singular archaeon ) is a domain of single-celled organisms. These microorganisms lack cell nuclei and are therefore prokaryotes. Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria (in the Archaebac ...
, but some
eukaryote
Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...
s such as
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.[snow algae
Snow algae are a group of freshwater micro-algae which grow in the alpine and polar regions of the earth. These algae have been observed to come in a variety of colors associated with both the individual species, stage of life or topography/geogra ...]
,
phytoplankton
Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.
Ph ...
, fungi, and
wingless midges, are also classified as psychrophiles.
Biology
Habitat
The cold environments that psychrophiles inhabit are ubiquitous on Earth, as a large fraction of the planetary surface experiences temperatures lower than 10 °C. They are present in
permafrost
Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
, polar ice,
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
s,
snowfields and
deep ocean
The deep sea is broadly defined as the ocean depth where light begins to fade, at an approximate depth of 200 metres (656 feet) or the point of transition from continental shelves to continental slopes. Conditions within the deep sea are a combin ...
waters. These organisms can also be found in pockets of sea ice with high salinity content.
Microbial activity has been measured in
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...
s frozen below −39 °C. In addition to their temperature limit, psychrophiles must also adapt to other extreme environmental constraints that may arise as a result of their habitat. These constraints include high pressure in the deep sea, and high salt concentration on some sea ice.
Adaptations
Psychrophiles are protected from freezing and the expansion of ice by ice-induced
desiccation
Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container.
...
and
vitrification
Vitrification (from Latin ''vitreum'', "glass" via French ''vitrifier'') is the full or partial transformation of a substance into a glass, that is to say, a non-crystalline amorphous solid. Glasses differ from liquids structurally and glasses po ...
(glass transition), as long as they cool slowly. Free living cells desiccate and vitrify between −10 °C and −26 °C. Cells of multicellular organisms may vitrify at temperatures below −50 °C. The cells may continue to have some metabolic activity in the extracellular fluid down to these temperatures, and they remain viable once restored to normal temperatures.
They must also overcome the stiffening of their lipid cell membrane, as this is important for the survival and functionality of these organisms. To accomplish this, psychrophiles adapt lipid membrane structures that have a high content of short,
unsaturated fatty acids
In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple est ...
. Compared to longer saturated fatty acids, incorporating this type of fatty acid allows for the lipid cell membrane to have a lower melting point, which increases the fluidity of the membranes. In addition,
carotenoids are present in the membrane, which help modulate the fluidity of it.
Antifreeze proteins
Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) or ice structuring proteins refer to a class of polypeptides produced by certain animals, plants, fungi and bacteria that permit their survival in temperatures below the freezing point of water. AFPs bind to small i ...
are also synthesized to keep psychrophiles' internal space liquid, and to protect their
DNA when temperatures drop below water's freezing point. By doing so, the protein prevents any ice formation or recrystallization process from occurring.
The enzymes of these organisms have been hypothesized to engage in an activity-stability-flexibility relationship as a method for adapting to the cold; the flexibility of their enzyme structure will increase as a way to compensate for the freezing effect of their environment.
Certain cryophiles, such as Gram-negative bacteria ''Vibrio'' and ''Aeromonas'' spp., can transition into a
viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state. During VBNC, a micro-organism can respire and use substrates for metabolism – however, it cannot replicate. An advantage of this state is that it is highly reversible. It has been debated whether VBNC is an active survival strategy or if eventually the organism's cells will no longer be able to be revived. There is proof however it may be very effective – Gram positive bacteria Actinobacteria have been shown to have lived about 500,000 years in the permafrost conditions of Antarctica, Canada, and Siberia.
Taxonomic range
Psychrophiles include bacteria, lichens, snow algae, phytoplankton, fungi, and insects.
Among the bacteria that can tolerate extreme cold are ''
Arthrobacter'' sp., ''
Psychrobacter'' sp. and members of the genera ''
Halomonas'', ''
Pseudomonas
''Pseudomonas'' is a genus of Gram-negative, Gammaproteobacteria, belonging to the family Pseudomonadaceae and containing 191 described species. The members of the genus demonstrate a great deal of metabolic diversity and consequently are able ...
'', ''
Hyphomonas'', and ''
Sphingomonas
''Sphingomonas'' was defined in 1990 as a group of Gram-negative, rod-shaped, chemoheterotrophic, strictly aerobic bacteria. They possess ubiquinone 10 as their major respiratory quinone, contain glycosphingolipids (GSLs), specifically ceramide ...
''. Another example is ''
Chryseobacterium greenlandensis
''Chryseobacterium aquaticum'' is a Gram-negative, non- spore-forming and non-motile bacteria
Non-motile bacteria are bacteria species that lack the ability and structures that would allow them to propel themselves, under their own power, thr ...
'', a psychrophile that was found in 120,000-year-old ice.
''
Umbilicaria antarctica'' and ''
Xanthoria elegans
''Xanthoria elegans'', commonly known as the elegant sunburst lichen, is a lichenized species of fungus in the genus ''Xanthoria'', family Teloschistaceae. Recognized by its bright orange or red pigmentation, this species grows on rocks, often ne ...
'' are lichens that have been recorded photosynthesizing at temperatures ranging down to −24 °C, and they can grow down to around −10 °C.
Some multicellular eukaryotes can also be metabolically active at sub-zero temperatures, such as some conifers; those in the ''
Chironomidae
The Chironomidae (informally known as chironomids, nonbiting midges, or lake flies) comprise a family of nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Many species ...
'' family are still active at −16 °C.
Microalgae
Microalgae or microphytes are microscopic algae invisible to the naked eye. They are phytoplankton typically found in freshwater and marine systems, living in both the water column and sediment. They are unicellular species which exist indiv ...
that live in snow and ice include green, brown, and red algae.
Snow algae
Snow algae are a group of freshwater micro-algae which grow in the alpine and polar regions of the earth. These algae have been observed to come in a variety of colors associated with both the individual species, stage of life or topography/geogra ...
species such as ''
Chloromonas sp.'', ''
Chlamydomonas
''Chlamydomonas'' is a genus of green algae consisting of about 150 speciesSmith, G.M. 1955 ''Cryptogamic Botany Volume 1. Algae and Fungi'' McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc of unicellular flagellates, found in stagnant water and on damp soil, ...
sp.'', and ''
Chlorella
''Chlorella'' is a genus of about thirteen species of single-celled green algae belonging to the division Chlorophyta. The cells are spherical in shape, about 2 to 10 μm in diameter, and are without flagella. Their chloroplasts contain the ...
sp.'' are found in polar environments.
Some
phytoplankton
Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.
Ph ...
can tolerate extremely cold temperatures and high salinities that occur in brine channels when
sea ice
Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oce ...
forms in polar oceans. Some examples are
diatoms
A diatom (New Latin, Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group com ...
like ''
Fragilariopsis cylindrus
''Fragilariopsis cylindrus'' is a Pennales, pennate sea-ice diatom that is found native in the Argentine Sea and Antarctic waters, with a pH of 8.1-8.4. It is regarded as an Bioindicator, indicator species for polar water.
Description
''Fragil ...
'', ''Nitzchia lecointeii'', ''Entomoneis kjellmanii'', ''Nitzchia stellata'', ''Thalassiosira australis'', ''Berkelaya adeliense'', and ''Navicula glaciei''.
''
Penicillium
''Penicillium'' () is a genus of ascomycetous fungi that is part of the mycobiome of many species and is of major importance in the natural environment, in food spoilage, and in food and drug production.
Some members of the genus produce pe ...
'' is a genus of fungi found in a wide range of environments including extreme cold.
Among the psychrophile insects, the
Grylloblattidae
Grylloblattidae, commonly known as the icebugs, or ice crawlers, is a family of extremophile (psychrophile) and wingless insects that live in the cold on top of mountains and the edges of glaciers. They belong, along with Mantophasmatidae (rock c ...
or ice crawlers, found on mountaintops, have optimal temperatures between 1-4 °C.
The wingless midge (Chironomidae) ''
Belgica antarctica
''Belgica antarctica'', the Antarctic midge, is a species of flightless midge, endemic to the continent of Antarctica. At long, it is the largest purely terrestrial animal native to the continent.
It also has the smallest known insect genome as ...
'' can tolerate salt, being frozen and strong ultraviolet, and has the smallest known genome of any insect. The small
genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...
, of 99 million
base pair
A base pair (bp) is a fundamental unit of double-stranded nucleic acids consisting of two nucleobases bound to each other by hydrogen bonds. They form the building blocks of the DNA double helix and contribute to the folded structure of both DNA ...
s, is thought to be adaptive to extreme environments.
Psychrotrophic bacteria
Psychrotrophic microbes are able to grow at temperatures below , but have better growth rates at higher temperatures. Psychrotrophic bacteria and fungi are able to grow at refrigeration temperatures, and can be responsible for food spoilage and as
foodborne pathogens such as ''
Yersinia
''Yersinia'' is a genus of bacteria in the family Yersiniaceae. ''Yersinia'' species are Gram-negative, coccobacilli bacteria, a few micrometers long and fractions of a micrometer in diameter, and are facultative anaerobes. Some members of ''Yer ...
''. They provide an estimation of the product's shelf life, but also they can be found in soils, in surface and deep sea waters, in Antarctic ecosystems, and in foods.
Psychrotrophic bacteria are of particular concern to the
dairy industry
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a ...
. Most are killed by
pasteurization
Pasteurization or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than , to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life.
The ...
; however, they can be present in milk as post-pasteurization contaminants due to less than adequate sanitation practices. According to the Food Science Department at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, psychrotrophs are bacteria capable of growth at temperatures at or less than . At freezing temperatures, growth of psychrotrophic bacteria becomes negligible or virtually stops.
All three subunits of the RecBCD enzyme are essential for physiological activities of the enzyme in the Antarctic ''
Pseudomonas syringae
''Pseudomonas syringae'' is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacterium with polar flagella. As a plant pathogen, it can infect a wide range of species, and exists as over 50 different pathovars, all of which are available to researchers from internat ...
'', namely, repairing of DNA damage and supporting the growth at low temperature. The RecBCD enzymes are exchangeable between the psychrophilic ''P. syringae'' and the mesophilic ''E. coli'' when provided with the entire protein complex from same species. However, the RecBC proteins (RecBCPs and RecBCEc) of the two bacteria are not equivalent; the RecBCEc is proficient in DNA recombination and repair, and supports the growth of ''P. syringae'' at low temperature, while RecBCPs is insufficient for these functions. Finally, both helicase and nuclease activity of the RecBCDPs are although important for DNA repair and growth of ''P. syringae'' at low temperature, the RecB-nuclease activity is not essential in vivo.
Psychrophilic microalgae
Microscopic algae that can tolerate extremely cold temperatures can survive in snow, ice, and very cold seawater. On snow, cold-tolerant algae can bloom on the snow surface covering land, glaciers, or sea ice when there is sufficient light. These snow algae darken the surface of the snow and can contribute to snow melt.
In seawater, phytoplankton that can tolerate both very high salinities and very cold temperatures are able to live in sea ice. One example of a psychrophilic phytoplankton species is the ice-associated diatom ‘’
Fragilariopsis cylindrus
''Fragilariopsis cylindrus'' is a Pennales, pennate sea-ice diatom that is found native in the Argentine Sea and Antarctic waters, with a pH of 8.1-8.4. It is regarded as an Bioindicator, indicator species for polar water.
Description
''Fragil ...
’’.
Phytoplankton living in the cold ocean waters near
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
often have very high protein content, containing some of the highest concentrations ever measured of enzymes like
Rubisco
Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase, commonly known by the abbreviations RuBisCo, rubisco, RuBPCase, or RuBPco, is an enzyme () involved in the first major step of carbon fixation, a process by which atmospheric carbon dioxide is con ...
.
Psychrotrophic insects
Insects that are psychrotrophic can survive cold temperatures through several general mechanisms (unlike opportunistic and chill susceptible insects): (1) chill tolerance, (2) freeze avoidance, and (3) freeze tolerance.
Chill tolerant insects succumb to freezing temperatures after prolonged exposure to mild or moderate freezing temperatures.
Freeze avoiding insects can survive extended periods of time at sub-freezing temperatures in a supercooled state, but die at their
supercooling
Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid or a gas below its melting point without it becoming a solid. It achieves this in the absence of a seed crystal or nucleus around which a crystal ...
point.
Freeze tolerant insects can survive ice crystal formation within their body at sub-freezing temperatures.
Freeze tolerance within insects is argued to be on a continuum, with some insect species exhibiting partial (e.g., ''
Tipula paludosa
''Tipula paludosa'' is a species of true craneflies, family Tipulidae. It is also known as the European crane fly or the marsh crane fly. It is a pest in grasslands of Northwest Europe and has been accidentally introduced to North America.
Distr ...
'', ''
Hemideina thoracica
''Hemideina thoracica'', commonly known as the Auckland tree wētā or tokoriro is a cricket-like insect (within the family Anostostomatidae). It is endemic to New Zealand and is found over most of the North Island, except for the Wellington re ...
''
), moderate (e.g., ''
Cryptocercus punctulatus
''Cryptocercus punctulatus'', known generally as brown-hooded cockroach, is a species of cockroach in the family Cryptocercidae. Other common names include the woodroach, wingless wood roach, and eastern wood-eating cockroach. It is found in No ...
''
), and strong freezing tolerance (e.g., ''
Eurosta solidaginis
The goldenrod gall fly (''Eurosta solidaginis''), also known as the goldenrod ball gallmaker, is a species of fly native to North America. The species is best known for the characteristic galls it forms on several species in the ''Solidago'', o ...
''
and ''
Syrphus ribesii''
'')'', and other insect species exhibiting freezing tolerance with low supercooling point (e.g., ''
Pytho deplanatus''
).
Psychrophile versus psychrotroph
In 1940, ZoBell and Conn stated that they had never encountered "true psychrophiles" or organisms that grow best at relatively low temperatures. In 1958, J. L. Ingraham supported this by concluding that there are very few or possibly no bacteria that fit the textbook definitions of psychrophiles. Richard Y. Morita emphasizes this by using the term ''psychrotroph'' to describe organisms that do not meet the definition of psychrophiles. The confusion between the terms ''psychrotrophs'' and ''psychrophiles'' was started because investigators were unaware of the thermolability of psychrophilic organisms at the laboratory temperatures. Due to this, early investigators did not determine the cardinal temperatures for their isolates.
The similarity between these two is that they are both capable of growing at zero, but optimum and upper temperature limits for the growth are lower for psychrophiles compared to psychrotrophs.
Psychrophiles are also more often isolated from permanently cold habitats compared to psychrotrophs. Although psychrophilic enzymes remain under-used because the cost of production and processing at low temperatures is higher than for the commercial enzymes that are presently in use, the attention and resurgence of research interest in psychrophiles and psychrotrophs will be a contributor to the betterment of the environment and the desire to conserve energy.
See also
*
Chionophile
Chionophiles are any organisms (animals, plants, fungi, etc.) that can thrive in cold winter conditions (the word is derived from the Greek word ''chion'' meaning "snow", and ''-phile'' meaning "lover"). These animals have specialized adaptations ...
*
Halophile
The halophiles, named after the Greek word for "salt-loving", are extremophiles that thrive in high salt concentrations. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea, there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, ...
*
Ice algae
Ice algae are any of the various types of algal communities found in annual and multi-year sea or terrestrial ice. On sea ice in the polar oceans, ice algae communities play an important role in primary production. The timing of blooms of the al ...
*
Mesophile
A mesophile is an organism that grows best in moderate temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, with an optimum growth range from . The optimum growth temperature for these organisms is 37°C. The term is mainly applied to microorganisms. Organi ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
{{Extremophile
Microbial growth and nutrition
Cryobiology