Contents


**Chapter 8 129** A Review on Electro-Rheological Fluid (ER) and Its Various Technological Applications *by Sudipto Datta, Ranjit Barua and Jonali Das*

Preface

Extremophilic microbes are microorganisms that can grow under a remarkable range of extreme environments such as glacial deserts, hot springs, ocean floors, hypersalted environments, and rocks of the Earth's mantle. These microbes include acidophiles, alkalophiles, halophiles, barophiles, (hyper), thermophiles, and psychrophiles. These hostile environments shelter the rich biodiversity of extremophiles that could belong to one of three domains of life (bacteria, archaea and eukaryote). These microbes have evolved several mechanisms to ensure genomic integrity, cell division, and energy conservation in extreme conditions. They present a wide and versatile metabolic and enzymatic diversity coupled with extraordinary physiological adaptabilities to extreme environments. These enzymes and metabolites have been exploited to develop clean and sustainable industrial processes. Antibiotics, compatible solutes, and other compounds obtainable from these microbes are also finding a variety of uses. Recently, several investigations have been started to study the phylogenetic relationship between extremophilic microbes through the analysis of their genome sequences. Hence, comparative genomic analyses of genomes allowed for the identification of distinctive genes and metabolic pathways involved in the extremophilic way of life. This book

presents a detailed portrait of the diversity and metabolic potential and applications of extremophilic microbes through several approaches and helps the reader to

**Afef Najjari and Hadda-Imene Ouzari**

Faculty of Sciences of Tunis - University of Tunis El Manar,

Higher Institute for Biotechnology - University of Manouba,

National Center for Nuclear Sciences and Technology, Sidi Thabet Higher Institute for Biotechnology,

Department of Biology,

Campus Universities, Tunis, Tunisia

**Haïtham Sghaier**

Ariana, Tunisia

**Ameur Cherif**

Ariana, Tunisia

understand the role of metabolites in environmental adaptations.
