NADPH Reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate
PCR
Polymerase chain reaction
PGP
Plant growth promoting
PGPR
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria
TCF
Total chlorine free
Wa
Water activity
Wh
Watt-hour
1 Introduction
Biotechnology is one of the most important disciplines of the modern era which is
advancing at breathtaking pace. Being an important field of science, it is revolutionizing human life in unprecedented ways and magnitude and plays numerous roles in
our daily lives. It is involved in different processes ranging from the food we eat to
cloths we wear and drugs we use to treat ailments. This technology is expanding and
integrating to many other disciplines which resulted in modification or alteration of
existing chemical processes and engraving its own new applications. The growing
environmental concern, the consumer inclination to organic products, and emergence of new techniques partly contributed to its expansion. Indeed, agricultural,
medicinal, industrial, and environmental fields have become increasingly
intertwined in one or another way to biotechnology. This trend is clearly marked
by the pleasant assimilation of biotechnology to the global economy which, in recent
years, is growing by leaps and bounds. The global market value of biotechnology
was estimated to be just around USD 216 billion in the year 2011, which grew to
about USD 369 billion in 2016 [1] and projected to reach around USD 730 billion by
the year 2025 [2]. Considering the amount of fund flowing to biotechnology
research, products which are in pipeline, and the growing demand for organic
products and biotechnology processes, one expects a huge market growth in the
years to come and beyond.
Microorganisms are the formidable pillars which uphold the vital tasks of biotechnology and ensure its success. These organisms are the crucial sources for
several products including enzymes, pharmaceutical compounds, industrial
chemicals, agricultural inputs, materials, biofuels, etc. In addition to their products,
whole microbial cells have been used to process food and feed, to manage residential
and industrial waste, to fertilize soil, to promote health (probiotics), etc. The great
majority of the microbes used in these applications have been those that thrive under
“normal” conditions, normal from anthropocentric perspective. These organisms
have been in focus for decades. But, the need for better and novel products,
emergence of new applications, and human curiosity have extended the search for
biotechnologically important organisms in previously unexplored habitats. One of
these habitats that attracted a great deal of attention is “extreme” environments.
In the last few decades, exploration studies made on extreme environments such
as those with high or low temperature or pH emerged with big surprises [3–7]. These
4
G. Mamo and B. Mattiasson
PCR
Polymerase chain reaction
PGP
Plant growth promoting
PGPR
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria
TCF
Total chlorine free
Wa
Water activity
Wh
Watt-hour
1 Introduction
Biotechnology is one of the most important disciplines of the modern era which is
advancing at breathtaking pace. Being an important field of science, it is revolutionizing human life in unprecedented ways and magnitude and plays numerous roles in
our daily lives. It is involved in different processes ranging from the food we eat to
cloths we wear and drugs we use to treat ailments. This technology is expanding and
integrating to many other disciplines which resulted in modification or alteration of
existing chemical processes and engraving its own new applications. The growing
environmental concern, the consumer inclination to organic products, and emergence of new techniques partly contributed to its expansion. Indeed, agricultural,
medicinal, industrial, and environmental fields have become increasingly
intertwined in one or another way to biotechnology. This trend is clearly marked
by the pleasant assimilation of biotechnology to the global economy which, in recent
years, is growing by leaps and bounds. The global market value of biotechnology
was estimated to be just around USD 216 billion in the year 2011, which grew to
about USD 369 billion in 2016 [1] and projected to reach around USD 730 billion by
the year 2025 [2]. Considering the amount of fund flowing to biotechnology
research, products which are in pipeline, and the growing demand for organic
products and biotechnology processes, one expects a huge market growth in the
years to come and beyond.
Microorganisms are the formidable pillars which uphold the vital tasks of biotechnology and ensure its success. These organisms are the crucial sources for
several products including enzymes, pharmaceutical compounds, industrial
chemicals, agricultural inputs, materials, biofuels, etc. In addition to their products,
whole microbial cells have been used to process food and feed, to manage residential
and industrial waste, to fertilize soil, to promote health (probiotics), etc. The great
majority of the microbes used in these applications have been those that thrive under
“normal” conditions, normal from anthropocentric perspective. These organisms
have been in focus for decades. But, the need for better and novel products,
emergence of new applications, and human curiosity have extended the search for
biotechnologically important organisms in previously unexplored habitats. One of
these habitats that attracted a great deal of attention is “extreme” environments.
In the last few decades, exploration studies made on extreme environments such
as those with high or low temperature or pH emerged with big surprises [3–7]. These
4
G. Mamo and B. Mattiasson