The genetics of temperature adaptation: how does life thrive in extreme conditions?

The history of the Earth has been one of physical extremes—extreme atmospheric conditions, extreme chemical environments, and extreme temperatures. There was a time when the Earth was so hot all the water was vapor, and the first rain only fell once the planet cooled enough. Soon after, life emerged and through it all, life has found a way. Today life is found almost everywhere on Earth we have looked; it is difficult to find places where life does not exist. The remarkable ability of life to adapt to variable conditions is one of its defining characteristics. Of its many adaptations, the ability of life to adapt to varying temperatures is one of the most interesting. All of life relies on chemical reactions, which are by nature sensitive to temperature. And yet, life exists across a spectrum of temperatures, from the Antarctic ice shelf to the edges of submarine volcanoes. This begs the question, how does life adapt to different temperatures? To attempt to unravel this question, a research team, led by Paula Prondzinsky and Shawn Erin McGlynn of the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Institute of Technology, recently investigated a group of organisms called methanogens.