In addition, the intromission of ‘alien’ microorganisms and global warming are strongly affecting microbial Antarctic populations, giving us an insight into new genetic evolutionary forces. This changing environment, rich in cold-adapted bacteria, is a genomic source for the identification of novel molecules and provides DNA elements suitable selleck for the design of new recombinant technologies. Extensive research has shown the potential of the Antarctic bacterial

DNA in the development of genetic engineering vectors to produce heterologous proteins at low temperature. The isolation by either culture-dependent or culture-independent approaches of genes responsible for producing cold-active enzymes with many potential biotechnological applications had also been

successful. Antarctic bacterial DNA is a valuable resource that is a substantial biotechnological resource that must be preserved. Authors thank Programa De Desarrollo de las Ciencias Básicas (PEDECIBA), Uruguay, and Instituto Antártico Uruguayo (IAU). C.M.-R. was supported by Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación (ANII). C.M.-R. and N.F. contributed equally to this work. “
“Dona Paula, Goa, India Studies on the molecular diversity of the micro-eukaryotic community have shown that fungi occupy a central position in a large number of marine habitats. Environmental surveys using molecular tools have shown the presence of fungi from a large number of marine BAY 80-6946 chemical structure habitats such as deep-sea habitats, pelagic waters, coastal regions, hydrothermal vent ecosystem, anoxic habitats, and ice-cold regions. This is of Pyruvate dehydrogenase lipoamide kinase isozyme 1 interest to a variety of research disciplines like ecology,

evolution, biogeochemistry, and biotechnology. In this review, we have summarized how molecular tools have helped to broaden our understanding of the fungal diversity in various marine habitats. Majority of the environmental phylotypes could be grouped as novel clades within Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Chytridiomycota or as basal fungal lineages. Deep-branching novel environmental clusters could be grouped within Ascomycota as the Pezizomycotina clone group, deep-sea fungal group-I, and soil clone group-I, within Basidiomycota as the hydrothermal and/or anaerobic fungal group, and within Chytridiomycota as Cryptomycota or the Rozella clade. However, a basal true marine environmental cluster is still to be identified as most of the clusters include representatives from terrestrial regions. The challenge for future research is to explore the true marine fungi using molecular techniques. “
“Large plasmids (‘megaplasmids’) are commonly found in members of the Alphaproteobacterial family Sphingomonadaceae (‘sphingomonads’). These plasmids contribute to the extraordinary catabolic flexibility of this group of organisms, which degrade a broad range of recalcitrant xenobiotic compounds. The genomes of several sphingomonads have been sequenced during the last years.