Extreme thermal environments: reservoirs of industrially important thermozymes

Extreme thermal environments, both natural (e.g., hot springs, fumaroles, geysers, mud pots, deep-sea hydrothermal vents) and man-made (e.g., compost heaps, sawdust, coal refuse piles), are rich sources of thermophilic microorganisms, including Bacteria and Archaea. These organisms possess unique adaptations that allow survival and metabolic activity at elevated temperatures, making them valuable sources of thermostable and thermoactive enzymes. This review synthesizes current knowledge on thermophiles, including their phylogeny, adaptation mechanisms, and cultivation strategies. We discuss the industrial applications of thermozymes, such as DNA polymerases and other thermostable enzymes, and highlight the role of genomics, systems biology, and bioinformatics in accelerating enzyme discovery. The review also addresses the astrobiological relevance of thermophiles as models for life in extreme extraterrestrial environments and emphasizes the importance of conservation and sustainable use of natural thermal habitats. Collectively, this overview provides a comprehensive perspective on the ecological, biotechnological, and fundamental research significance of thermophiles and their enzymes.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  Frontiers in Microbiology

• Publication date

  2026-01-09

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Chemistry, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1739143PMID 41586352PMCID 12827689
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Molecular cloning and modelling of a thermostable α-amylase from a thermophilic Geobacillus sp. DS3

  2025cited by this paper
• Functional Characterization, Genome Assembly, and Annotation of Geobacillus sp. G4 Isolated from a Geothermal Field in Tacna, Peru

  2025cited by this paper
• Polysaccharide-degrading archaea dominate acidic hot springs: genomic and cultivation insights into a novel Thermoproteota lineage

  2025cited by this paper
• Improvement of metabolic heat accumulation for hyperthermophilic composting system: influencing factors and microbial communities

  2025cited by this paper
• Biocatalytic recycling of plastics: facts and fiction

  2025cited by this paper
• Protein dynamics affect O2-stability of Group B [FeFe]-hydrogenase from Thermosediminibacter oceani

  2025cited by this paper
• Hydrothermal vent temperatures track magmatic inflation and forecast eruptions at the East Pacific Rise, 9°50’N

  2025cited by this paper
• The engineering toolbox of Parageobacillus thermoglucosidasius

  2025cited by this paper
• Propeptide-mediated enhancement of hyperthermophilic subtilisin-like protease expression in Escherichia coli

  2025cited by this paper
• Integration of metabolomics and other omics: from microbes to microbiome

  2024cited by this paper
• Characterisation and engineering of a thermophilic RNA ligase from Palaeococcus pacificus

  2024cited by this paper
• Microbial diversity analysis of Chumathang geothermal spring, Ladakh, India

  2024cited by this paper
• Thermostable in vitro transcription-translation compatible with microfluidic droplets

  2024cited by this paper
• Characterization of a thermostable protease from Bacillus subtilis BSP strain

  2024cited by this paper
• Bacterial diversity along the geothermal gradients: insights from the high-altitude Himalayan hot spring habitats of Sikkim

  2024cited by this paper
• Optimized production and characterization of a thermostable cellulase from Streptomyces thermodiastaticus strain

  2024cited by this paper
• Microbial diversity of hot springs of the Kuril Islands

  2024cited by this paper
• Thermophilic Fungi as the Microbial Agents of Choice for the Industrial Co-Fermentation of Wood Wastes and Nitrogen-Rich Organic Wastes to Bio-Methane

  2023cited by this paper
• Adaptive laboratory evolution of a thermophile toward a reduced growth temperature optimum

  2023cited by this paper
• A temperature dependent pilin promoter for production of thermostable enzymes in Thermus thermophilus

  2023cited by this paper
• Bacterial and archaeal community distributions and cosmopolitanism across physicochemically diverse hot springs

  2023cited by this paper
• Community structure of thermophilic photosynthetic microbial mats and flocs at Sembawang Hot Spring, Singapore

  2023cited by this paper
• Archaeal lipids.

  2023cited by this paper
• Novel hyperthermoacidic archaeal enzymes for removal of thermophilic biofilms from stainless steel.

  2023cited by this paper
• Heterologous expression and biochemical characterization of novel multifunctional thermostable α-amylase from hot-spring metagenome.

  2023cited by this paper
• Use of modified ichip for the cultivation of thermo-tolerant microorganisms from the hot spring

  2023cited by this paper
• Biochemical and genetic examination of two aminotransferases from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis

  2023cited by this paper
• Review on Thermozymes Produced by Thermophilic Fungi: A Gold Mine for Industrial Applications

  2023cited by this paper
• Neq2X7: a multi-purpose and open-source fusion DNA polymerase for advanced DNA engineering and diagnostics PCR

  2022cited by this paper
• Substrate Specificity of an Aminopropyltransferase and the Biosynthesis Pathway of Polyamines in the Hyperthermophilic Crenarchaeon Pyrobaculum calidifontis

  2022cited by this paper
• ThermoBase: A database of the phylogeny and physiology of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic organisms

  2022cited by this paper
• High-Pressure Microfluidics for Ultra-Fast Microbial Phenotyping

  2022cited by this paper
• Toward Detecting Biosignatures of DNA, Lipids, and Metabolic Intermediates from Bacteria in Ice Grains Emitted by Enceladus and Europa

  2022cited by this paper
• Synthetic biology of extremophiles: a new wave of biomanufacturing.

  2022cited by this paper
• Microbial diversity gradients in the geothermal mud volcano underlying the hypersaline Urania Basin

  2022cited by this paper
• Industrial Biotechnology Based on Enzymes From Extreme Environments

  2022cited by this paper
• Relevance of Earth-Bound Extremophiles in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

  2022cited by this paper
• Genome-scale metabolic modeling of P. thermoglucosidasius NCIMB 11955 reveals metabolic bottlenecks in anaerobic metabolism.

  2021cited by this paper
• Thermococcus bergensis sp. nov., a Novel Hyperthermophilic Starch-Degrading Archaeon

  2021cited by this paper
• Improvement of thermostability and catalytic efficiency of glucoamylase from Talaromyces leycettanus JCM12802 via site-directed mutagenesis to enhance industrial saccharification applications

  2021cited by this paper
• Thermostable Cellulases / Xylanases From Thermophilic and Hyperthermophilic Microorganisms: Current Perspective

  2021cited by this paper
• Construction and Validation of a Genome-Scale Metabolic Network of Thermotoga sp. Strain RQ7

  2020cited by this paper
• Thermophilic Chitinases: Structural, Functional and Engineering Attributes for Industrial Applications

  2020cited by this paper
• Gene cloning, expression enhancement in Escherichia coli and biochemical characterization of a highly thermostable amylomaltase from Pyrobaculum calidifontis.

  2020cited by this paper
• Temperature affects the repeatability of evolution in the microbial eukaryote Tetrahymena thermophila

  2020cited by this paper
• Purification and characterization of a noble thermostable algal starch liquefying alpha-amylase from Aeribacillus pallidus BTPS-2 isolated from geothermal spring of Nepal

  2020cited by this paper
• Overexpression and characterization of TnCel12B, a hyperthermophilic GH12 endo-1,4-β-glucanase cloned from Thermotoga naphthophila RKU-10T.

  2020cited by this paper
• A metabolic modeling platform for the computation of microbial ecosystems in time and space (COMETS)

  2020cited by this paper
• Defining heat shock response for the thermoacidophilic model crenarchaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

  2020cited by this paper
• [Systems biology for industrial biotechnology].

  2019cited by this paper
• Transfer RNA Modification Enzymes from Thermophiles and Their Modified Nucleosides in tRNA

  2018cited by this paper
• Microbiome profiling in extremely acidic soils affected by hydrothermal fluids: the case of the Solfatara Crater (Campi Flegrei, southern Italy).

  2018cited by this paper
• Unifying the global phylogeny and environmental distribution of ammonia-oxidising archaea based on amoA genes

  2018cited by this paper
• Biochemical characterization of a thermostable endomannanase/endoglucanase from Dictyoglomus turgidum

  2017cited by this paper
• Candidatus Nitrosocaldus cavascurensis, an Ammonia Oxidizing, Extremely Thermophilic Archaeon with a Highly Mobile Genome

  2017cited by this paper
• Metagenomics: novel enzymes from non‐culturable microbes

  2017cited by this paper
• Physiological, metabolic and biotechnological features of extremely thermophilic microorganisms

  2017cited by this paper
• Cassini finds molecular hydrogen in the Enceladus plume: Evidence for hydrothermal processes

  2017cited by this paper
• Diversity of bacteria and archaea from two shallow marine hydrothermal vents from Vulcano Island

  2017cited by this paper
• Deep sequencing analysis of bacterial community structure of Soldhar hot spring, India

  2017cited by this paper
• Microbial community dynamics in Inferno Crater Lake, a thermally fluctuating geothermal spring

  2017cited by this paper
• Hyperthermostable Thermotoga maritima xylanase XYN10B shows high activity at high temperatures in the presence of biomass-dissolving hydrophilic ionic liquids

  2016cited by this paper
• MetaboTools: A Comprehensive Toolbox for Analysis of Genome-Scale Metabolic Models

  2016cited by this paper
• Life in High-Temperature Environments

  2016cited by this paper
• A New Thermophilic Nitrilase from an Antarctic Hyperthermophilic Microorganism

  2016cited by this paper
• Estimating the success of enzyme bioprospecting through metagenomics: current status and future trends

  2015cited by this paper
• Highly Thermostable Xylanase Production from A Thermophilic Geobacillus sp. Strain WSUCF1 Utilizing Lignocellulosic Biomass

  2015cited by this paper
• The universal tree of life: an update

  2015cited by this paper
• The survival mechanisms of thermophiles at high temperatures: an angle of omics.

  2015cited by this paper
• Microbial diversity of the Soldhar hot spring, India, assessed by analyzing 16S rRNA and protein-coding genes

  2015cited by this paper
• Extremely thermophilic microorganisms as metabolic engineering platforms for production of fuels and industrial chemicals

  2015cited by this paper
• Extremozymes--biocatalysts with unique properties from extremophilic microorganisms.

  2014cited by this paper
• Thermophilic bacteria that tolerate a wide temperature and pH range colonize the Soldhar (95 °C) and Ringigad (80 °C) hot springs of Uttarakhand, India

  2014cited by this paper
• A Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars

  2014cited by this paper
• Microbial diversity in Los Azufres geothermal field (Michoacán, Mexico) and isolation of representative sulfate and sulfur reducers

  2014cited by this paper
• Biosynthesis of archaeal membrane ether lipids

  2014cited by this paper
• The Geobacillus paradox: why is a thermophilic bacterial genus so prevalent on a mesophilic planet?

  2014cited by this paper
• The Genome Organization of Thermotoga maritima Reflects Its Lifestyle

  2013cited by this paper
• Molecular analysis of the UV-inducible pili operon from Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

  2013cited by this paper
• Life on the Edge and Astrobiology: Who Is Who in the Polyextremophiles World?

  2013cited by this paper
• A Comprehensive Census of Microbial Diversity in Hot Springs of Tengchong, Yunnan Province China Using 16S rRNA Gene Pyrosequencing

  2013cited by this paper
• Microbial Diversity and Biochemical Potential Encoded by Thermal Spring Metagenomes Derived from the Kamchatka Peninsula

  2013cited by this paper
• Experimental evidence for the thermophilicity of ancestral life

  2013cited by this paper
• Serpentinization, Carbon, and Deep Life

  2013cited by this paper
• The YNP Metagenome Project: Environmental Parameters Responsible for Microbial Distribution in the Yellowstone Geothermal Ecosystem

  2013cited by this paper
• Overview of the genetic tools in the Archaea

  2012cited by this paper
• Microbial colonization and controls in dryland systems

  2012cited by this paper
• Microbial culturomics: paradigm shift in the human gut microbiome study.

  2012cited by this paper
• Thermal Adaptation of the Archaeal and Bacterial Lipid Membranes

  2012cited by this paper
• Genome-Scale Reconstruction and Analysis of the Metabolic Network in the Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Sulfolobus Solfataricus

  2012cited by this paper
• Genotypic and phenotypic diversity of PGPR fluorescent pseudomonads isolated from the rhizosphere of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.).

  2012cited by this paper
• Direct utilization of geothermal energy 2010 worldwide review

  2011cited by this paper
• Extremophiles: from abyssal to terrestrial ecosystems and possibly beyond

  2011cited by this paper
• Cloning, expression and purification of Pwo polymerase from Pyrococcus woesei

  2011cited by this paper
• Molecular bases of thermophily in hyperthermophiles

  2011cited by this paper
• Preservation of Martian Organic and Environmental Records: Final Report of the Mars Biosignature Working Group

  2011cited by this paper
• Immobilization and Characterization of a Recombinant Thermostable Lipase (Pf2001) from Pyrococcus furiosus on Supports with Different Degrees of Hydrophobicity

  2010cited by this paper
• The Potential for Abiotic Organic Synthesis and Biosynthesis at Seafloor Hydrothermal Systems

  2010cited by this paper
• Protecting the Geyser Basins of Yellowstone National Park: Toward a New National Policy for a Vulnerable Environmental Resource

  2010cited by this paper
• Thermostable lipases from the extreme thermophilic anaerobic bacteria Thermoanaerobacter thermohydrosulfuricus SOL1 and Caldanaerobacter subterraneus subsp. tengcongensis

  2009cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.