How is Europe doing on zero pollution? 👀
The @ec.europa.eu’s Zero Pollution Dashboard tracks key indicators on air, water, and soil 🌍 Monitoring progress helps guide action and investment, because achieving zero pollution needs both policy and innovation.
Check it out 👉 shorturl.at/hrXnt
New format unlocked 🎙️
You can now listen to XTREAM on the Vive Segovia podcast! Our coordinator, Antonio, together with Irene Sánchez from our sister project EXPLORA, shares how extremophiles will shape the future of biotechnology.
Don't miss it!👉 open.spotify.com/episode/2OUJ...
🪸 Meeting an alga with a magnetic personality! 🧲 Galdieria sulphuraria can bind metal at its cell surface, so researchers think it could be used to clean mine water treatment trains. Check their review 👉
🚨🦠 Good news for lab teachers! E. coli may be used for the overproduction of recombinant hyperthermophilic P. calidifontis catalase – a common enzyme used in teaching labs which is usually difficult to get. Check how to do so 👉
Just back from Hungary! ♨️
Last week, we were sampling at the hot spring of Egerszalók. With water at around 68°C, it’s a unique place where heat, minerals and microbial life come together.
🦠 This archaeon lives without oxygen, and its metabolism consists of using hydrogen to reduce sulphur.
You can read what scientists first wrote about this thermophile here👉 doi.org/10.1016/S072...
Image obtained from: doi.org/10.3390/life...
🔥 It has an optimum growth temperature of 105°C.
🥅 It can form structures between cells in the shape of nets.
🤿 It lives in submarine fields, where it is not easy to find it. 👇 (2/3)
👀 Pyrodictium occultum was one of the first thermophiles discovered. The meaning behind its name, “the hidden net of fire”, gives us a glimpse of its capabilities: 👇 (1/3)
XTREAM has returned to the Arctic❄️. This week, we joined the Arctic Microbiology course at UNIS to deliver two training sessions to the students: Lucas Sánchez (@scienseed.com) spoke on scientific communication, and Aurelio Hidalgo (@uam.es) on bioprospecting. We won't forget the experience!
🗣️Today, our coordinator Antonio García Moyano shared with IE University students in Segovia his journey as researcher in Norway.
🤝Together with Irene Sánchez Andrea from EXPLORA, he highlighted how science and extreme life can inspire innovation for sustainability.
📸 @robertoarribas (IG)
🌋 This deep biosphere challenges what we thought we knew about the limits of life and gives us a new perspective on how we search for life beyond Earth.
Image obtained from: shorturl.at/VoM6q
🔬 Scientists have discovered microbial communities living in complete isolation, surviving on chemical energy from rocks. Some of these microorganisms have likely been cut off from the surface for millions of years, feeding on hydrogen and sulfate produced by geological processes.
🔥 Temperatures down there can reach up to 60 °C in the surrounding rock. No sunlight, crushing pressure, and almost no nutrients. Sounds uninhabitable, right? 🦠 And yet… life thrives!
⛏️🌍 When you think about extreme places, you might picture volcanoes or polar ice. But what about 4 kilometres below the Earth’s surface?
🪙 Welcome to the Mponeng gold mine in South Africa — one of the deepest mines in the world.
️🚮 These organisms contribute to the decomposition of organic waste, such as food residues. Their secret? Cold-adapted enzymes that keep biodegradation running even at low temperatures. These enzymes can play a crucial role in the biodegradation processes. 👇 (2/3)
❄️🧹Meet one of nature’s most extreme cleanup crews!
🧊🦠 Psychrobacter and Polaromonas are official trash collectors in cold environments. They are called psychrophiles, and their optimal growth happens at 15ºC or lower! 👇 (1/3)
🌍❄️ We’re thrilled to welcome University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) to the XTREAM team, one of the northernmost research centres on the planet. 🔬✨ UNIS brings unique Arctic expertise in biology, geophysics, geology, and technology, leading cutting-edge research right in Svalbard’s High Arctic.
❄️🐧 The South Pole is not only conquered by penguins… but also by scientists! 🔬🧬 The Czech Antarctic Research Program from Masaryk University is on a scientific expedition to Antarctica to get to know it better. Check their steps here 👉
🌱🌐 Transforming the EU into a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive economy is not an easy task, but that is why we have the European Green Deal. 🍃 This initiative aims to cut emissions by at least 50% by 2030. Learn how 👉
🏛️🖼️ @eabrown18.bsky.social led some research through the great art houses of Europe to discover if they had extremophilic mould in their collections. When she asked, everyone answered that they didn’t, but was it true? 🤔👉 shorturl.at/Hl6tH
🦠😠 This halophile wants no other bacteria nearby! Marinilactibacillus shows inhibitory effects against other bacteria, such as S. aureus. This could be interesting to produce alternative antimicrobial agents.
Read the whole story 👉
❌💊This ancient extremophile lives in an ice cave and is resistant to 10 modern antibiotics!
💪Psychrobacter SC65A.3 has more than 100 genes related to resistance, which suggests that some extremophiles act as “reservoirs” of resistance genes. Check it out: doi.org/hbpn39
Further research is still needed, but R.similis shows the potential of eukaryotic extremophiles in a better understanding of how life could be shaped over other planets✨.
👉 Source: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
👀Producing melanin - a pigment that not only gives its characteristic colour but also functions as a protective shield. The fungus also activates repairing enzymes and other metabolites as resistant mechanisms.
🚀This black fungus can survive stressors similar to those in space, such as oxidative salts and ultraviolet-C radiation. So, how does it do it?
A fungus known for causing fungal skin infections shows potential beyond its pathogenic role. ✨
Rhinocladiella similis is being studied as a eukaryotic model organism in simulated extraterrestrial settings, like Martian-like conditions. Name a better glow-up!
Check this archaeon that can live in a volcano! The Weizmann Institute of Science determined that Pyrococcus furiosus can do it, but, how? Check the answer 👉
We are still thinking about our consortium meeting last week!💫
Thank you all for coming ☺️
👉 Read how it went here: xtream-project.eu/news/xtream-...
🗓️ Consortium meeting time!
💫 One year after our kick-off, we’re meeting again in person, this time hosted by @uam.es.
We are really happy to share our latest extremophile discoveries, and discuss the next steps together! 🔬
