title: Molecular mechanisms of survival strategies in extreme conditions.
abstract: Today, one of the major challenges in biophysics is to disclose the molecular mechanisms underlying biological processes. In such a frame, the understanding of the survival strategies in extreme conditions received a lot of attention both from the scientific and applicative points of view. Since nature provides precious suggestions to be applied for improving the quality of life, extremophiles are considered as useful model-systems. The main goal of this review is to present an overview of some systems, with a particular emphasis on trehalose playing a key role in several extremophile organisms. The attention is focused on the relation among the structural and dynamic properties of biomolecules and bioprotective mechanisms, as investigated by complementary spectroscopic techniques at low- and high-temperature values.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Messina, Viale D'Alcontres 31, P.O. Box 55-98166, Messina, Italy. smagazu@unime.it.
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Magazù
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Messina, Viale D'Alcontres 31, P.O. Box 55-98166, Messina, Italy. fmigliardo@unime.it.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Migliardo
authors.affiliation: Institut Laue Langevin, 6, Rue Jules Horowitz, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France. gonzalez@ill.fr.
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: CNR-IOM-OGG, Institut Laue Langevin, 6, Rue Jules Horowitz, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France. mondelli@ill.fr.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mondelli
authors.affiliation: ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Oxon, OX11 0QX, UK. stewart.parker@stfc.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Stewart F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: Institute of Enzymology, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Science, Budapest, Hungary. vertessy@enzim.hu.
authors.forename: Beata G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Vertessy