Extreme Red Sea: Life in the deep-sea anoxic brine lakes

Abstract

Tectonic splitting of the Arabian and African plates originated the Red Sea together with one of the most unique, remote, and extreme environments on Earth: deep-sea anoxic brine lakes. They combine multiple extremes namely increased salinity (7-fold), temperature (up to 70°C), concentration of heavy metals (1,000- to 10,000-fold), and hydrostatic pressure [1]. Despite such harsh conditions, they harbor an unexpectedly high biodiversity and are teeming with life. Increased interest in their microbiology led to multiple recent and ongoing studies. Highlights of this research include: the isolation, physiological characterization and genome sequencing of unusual new extremophilic microbes; the identification of several novel phylogenetic lineages; and ongoing cultivation- and molecularbased assessment of microbial community variation between and within different brines [2-7]. The uniqueness of these environments offers a high potential for discovery of new microbes, strategies and biomolecules to cope with extreme conditions, and biotechnological applications.