[Superbugs viewed from cosmobiology].
Superbugs (microorganisms living in unfamiliar and very harsh environments) are located in the center of scientific interests in the sense that 1) most of their habitats belong to marginal regions of the biosphere, 2) clues for the elucidation of the origin of life can be deduced from them, and 3) they are deeply correlated to the extraterrestrial life. Not only for the basic scientific interests, but also for the applied fields, the spot light is shed to them. We, human beings, have been deeply dependent on other organisms through the global material flow they make. Microorganisms together with plants are the leading characters in this process. Also implicit, our future is surely correlated to microorganisms including superbugs. In this special issue, superbugs; thermophilic, psychrophilic barophilic etc. are summarized, and future development on the study on the superbugs are introduced.
Kawasaki
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Mitsubishi Kasei Institute of Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan. kawasaki@libra.ls.m-kagaku.co.jp
D001690:Biological Science Disciplines; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D018559:Exobiology; D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D006358:Hot Temperature; D000069497:Origin of Life