Sympotein VIII Extreme cell biology

There are cells which don't live, behave or follow the accepted set of rules. This is a rather anthropocentric term, which defines the niche, environment and behaviors by humans as normal. These cells have evolved adaptations to survive the niches they inhabit, and have evolved from a bacterial cell towards being nucleated and eventually led to the evolution of multicellularity. We will talk about these cells and their adaptations in great details, come Wednesday, and perhaps try to extrapolate on basic evolutionary concepts underlying cellular development. On the same note, there is a prologue by Prof. Samir Damare from National Institute of Oceanography, Goa who will talk about extreme environment of the deep sea and organisms that dwell there.

List of Speakers

1.Extreme parasites- Shweta, NCBS
2.Extremophiles- Slesha Richhariya, NCBS
3.Nucleated bacteria-Neha Nandwani, NCBS
4.Giant cells-Giselle Fernandes and Anupama Ambika, NCBS
5.Of silica plates,slippers and slime molds:organisms of different life cycle-Garima Singhal, NCBS

The deep sea, the largest single ecosystem on earth is an example of an extreme environment. The sea surface occupies ~70 % of the surface of the earth, and 50 % of the surface of the earth is covered by more than 3000 m2 of ocean, with a mean depth of ~ 3800 m. It is the very remoteness of the deep sea and the difficulties encountered in its exploration that have resulted in it being one of the least understood environments on earth. At present, detailed information about specific areas of the deep sea is available, but these are mere ‘pinpricks’ in the vastness of this environment. The understanding of the deep-sea ecosystem is entwined with some of the most exciting aspects of scientific exploration and with the development of technologies for sampling and penetrating this environment, the information is increasing.

Deep-sea is characterized by low temperature, high hydrostatic pressure, no sunlight and low nutrient availability. Therefore to sustain in such an environment, one needs to overcome these difficulties in the form of adaptations. Thus the study of microorganisms isolated from the deep sea promises to provide new information about the origin of life and its evolution, contributing to the overall marine biodiversity, which is poorly described so far. The study of these extremophiles also gives an opportunity to investigate how life processes work at some of the extreme temperatures (both high and low) and pressures of the biosphere. In exploring these we would get to know about their function, metabolism and biogeochemical role at these depths. In other words, what do they eat, how do they survive and what roles do they play? We will be focusing on these aspects in the present talk.