What do you know about thermophiles and methanogen?
Both are types of archaebacteria which are similar to bacteria because they are single celled organisms lacking a nuclei. Thermophiles (heat loving) thrive at extreme temperatures, above 45 degrees celsius and are found in hot springs. This is because their enzymes work well in high temperatures under conditions where our proteins would normally denature. Therefore proteins obtained from thermophilles can be useful in the biotech industry such as PCR using Taq polymerase. Methanogens are anaerobic, they cannot survive in the presence of oxygen. They produce methane as a metabolic by product. They are found in wetlands where they produce marsh gas and in the guts of some animals including humans. They play a vital role in anaerobic enviroments because they remove excess hydrogen and fermentation products produced by other forms of anaerobic respiration.
