Another point is that organisms don't live at 400C. They live in the area
surrounding thermal vents where the temperature quickly drops off. The
current known record holder is Pyrolobus fumarii which is capable of living
at a maximum temperature of 113C. Organisms are also living in other high
temperature environments under little to no additional pressure in such
places as the hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park in
Wyoming, USA.. I'm not positive of the temperatures in these environments
but I think scientists have located organisms growing at least as high as
80C.
- Bill Nussbaumer
Jonathan Silverlight wrote:
Sent by: owner-microbio at hgmp.mrc.ac.uk
To: microbio at hgmp.mrc.ac.uk
cc:
Subject: Re: How animals in the hydrothermal vent can live with the high
temperature.
I'm fairly sure you can't simply "correct" in that way. Heat proteins to
400C and they will melt, or at least denature, whatever the pressure.
In message <NBpo8.22$t4.1853 at news.uchicago.edu>, Em
<ekhatipoREMOVE at midway.uchicagoREMOVE.edu> writes
>There is amother important issue that I believe should be considered,
namely
>pressure at the sea bed. Water is not boiling at 400C down there simply
>because the pressure is too high. In respect to boiling point, the 400C
>corrected to high pressure is in fact around 70-80C. That is why most
>thermophiles have in lab conditions temperature optimum ~70C. None of
these
>bacteria will grow in boiling water (100C) at normal atmospheric pressure.
>Of course, thermophiles have a lot of adaptations that allow them to
survive
>at high temperatures: heat stable proteins and special chaperons, more
>viscous lipids of the membrane and other characterized and yet to be
>discovered. Another factor is salinity, especially higher mineralization
>near the thermal vents. Many extremophiles are halophiles as well.
>>Emir
>>>"Remond" <cpc272688 at yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:890c20f2.0203090333.397c9a64 at posting.google.com...>> When someone know that the temperature in a hydrothermal vent can
>> reach 400 degrees Celsius, he will think that this place(hydrothermal
>> vent) is not a good place for life. But after many years of search,
>> many scientists prove the existence of many forms of life live around
>> these vents by using the submersible Alvin. The question is: How these
>> forms of life can stand with this extreme temperature?
>>>> Thanks...
>>>>
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