Biology of Thermophiles

Thermophiles play a key role in understanding the origin of life on Earth, and how life evolved. Their ability to live at high temperatures relies on a plethora of mechanisms such as different types and quantities of specific amino acids and flexibility of proteins (compared to mesophiles), on avoiding of metabolites labile at high temperatures, producing various chaperons, and membrane modifications. Amazingly, cell components of hyperthermophiles, e.g. proteins, nucleic acids and membranes must be stable or even function best at temperatures higher than 80°C. From a biotechnological perspective, thermophiles are considered a robust tool for synthetic biology as well as a reliable starting material for the development of sustainable bioprocesses.The Research Topic Biology of Thermophiles will highlight the latest advances in the study of thermophilic microorganisms, of their diversity, biology, their use in biotechnology and importance for the evolution of life.We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Perspective, Methods and Opinion articles exploring, but not limited to, the following themes:• Geochemical processes and elements’ cycling under high temperatures• Thermophiles, evolution of life and astrobiology• Newly cultured and uncultured taxa of thermophiles• Thermophiles genome evolution and integrity, DNA replication• Regulation of gene expression in thermophiles• Viruses of thermophiles, microbe-virus interactions and defense mechanisms• Metabolism and physiology of thermophiles• Thermophilic enzyme discovery and applications• Genetic systems and engineering thermophiles for industrial applications• Thermophiles cell biology, cellular structures and envelopes, motility• Systems approaches and OMICS for studying thermophiles• Microbial associations and host-symbiont interactions in high-temperature environments Topic editors: Ivan A Berg, Olga V Golyshina, Abhrajyoti Ghosh, Mirko Basen Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/75399/biology-of-thermophiles