Survival of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms after exposure to UV-C, ionizing radiation and desiccation.

In this study, we investigated the ability of several (hyper-) thermophilic Archaea and phylogenetically deep-branching thermophilic Bacteria to survive high fluences of monochromatic UV-C (254 nm) and high doses of ionizing radiation, respectively. Nine out of fourteen tested microorganisms showed a surprisingly high tolerance against ionizing radiation, and two species (Aquifex pyrophilus and Ignicoccus hospitalis) were even able to survive 20 kGy. Therefore, these species had a comparable survivability after exposure to ionizing radiation such as Deinococcus radiodurans. In contrast, there was nearly no difference in survival of the tested strains after exposure to UV-C under anoxic conditions. If the cells had been dried in advance of UV-C irradiation, they were more sensitive to UV-C radiation compared with cells irradiated in liquid suspension; this effect could be reversed by the addition of protective material like sulfidic ores before irradiation. By exposure to UV-C, photoproducts were formed in the DNA of irradiated Archaea and Bacteria. The distribution of the main photoproducts was species specific, but the amount of the photoproducts was only partly dependent on the applied fluence. Overall, our results show that tolerance to radiation seems to be a common phenomenon among thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms.

Tolerance of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms to desiccation.

We examined short- and long-term desiccation tolerance of 31 strains of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic Archaea and thermophilic phylogenetically deep-branching Bacteria. Seventeen organisms showed a significant high ability to withstand desiccation. The desiccation tolerance turned out to be species-specific and was influenced by several parameters such as storage temperature, pH, substrate or presence of oxygen. All organisms showed a higher survival rate at low storage temperatures (-20 degrees C or below) than at room temperature. Anaerobic and microaerophilic strains are influenced negatively in their survival by the presence of oxygen during desiccation and storage. The desiccation tolerance of Sulfolobales strains is co-influenced by the pH and the substrate of the pre-culture. The distribution of desiccation tolerance in the phylogenetic tree of life is not domain specific. Surprisingly, there are dramatic differences in desiccation tolerance among organisms from the same order and even from closely related strains of the same genus. Our results show that tolerance of vegetative cells to desiccation is a common phenomenon of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms although they originated from quite different non-arid habitats like boiling acidic springs or black smoker chimneys.