Bar refers to the pressure and Barophiles are organism that survive and thrive under extreme pressures. The pressure can be in the form of water where these organisms can be found in the depths of the ocean or it can be the pressure of earth, where these organisms (bacteria) are found deep underground.

In April 1998 a research was published in “Applied and Environmental Microbiology” in which the scientists discovered two strains of microbes at the deepest sediment at about 1080 ~ 1100 meters deep in the sea. The pressures these strains could withstand was in the range of 80 MPa.

These Barophiles were brought to surface, as if their pressure bearing capability was not strange, the organisms were not able to live at the reduced pressures!

Writing about Barophiles I can just think about the plasticity of life forms on earth. I couldn’t have ever imagined that bacteria can withstand the harsh (to say the least) conditions of Dead Sea. Bacteria not only live in the salty sea, they reproduce and form colonies also!

One of the main mechanism organisms adopt to withstand harsh environment is the employment of an extensive repair mechanism. DNA is the basic building block of life. DNA damage is reduced to minimum by repairing and throwing out the faulty copies.

Barophiles also fight extra pressure by accumulating extra “Omega 3 Fatty Acids” in their cell membrane, making them more elastic.

Deep sea temperature profile also regulates many of their physiological functions. An interesting feature of these organisms is their extreme sensitivity to light. As they live in dark they cannot tolerate light.

Barophiles