Name ____________________________________ Year/Section _______ Date _______ Score _______

JOURNAL ANALYSIS
Protein adaptations in extremophiles: An insight into extremophilic
connection of mycobacterial proteome
1. Extremophiles are defined as…

2. A proteome is defined as…

Extremophiles are NOT exclusively Archaean. Although most extremophiles are Archaea and
bacteria, certain fungi, protozoans, algae, and even viruses are also capable of living in severe
habitats.
3. The important roles of extremophiles in the basic and applied sciences are…

4. Extremophiles are classified based on their environmental adaptation. An example are the
thermophiles that can survive high temperatures. The 3 other extremophile classes and their
environmental adaptations are …

5. Pathogenic microbes such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis has extremophile-like adaptations.

The phenomenon called “horizontal gene transfer” is defined as …

Horizontal gene transfer helps in the survival of extremophiles through …

6. The specific stress-responsive genetic element found to be exclusively abundant in M.

tuberculosis but not in M. smegmatis is …

7. Currently, environmental stress is observed globally. The 5 environmental stresses are ….

9. Understanding protein adaptation mechanisms of extremophiles provide the following 5
benefits …

Proteins are a product of messenger RNA translation. After translation, proteins assume 4
levels of organizational structure.
Primary structure: initial protein organization-- type, number, and order of amino acids in
the chain
Secondary structure: occurs when the functional groups on the outer surface of the
molecule interact by forming hydrogen bonds; these bonds cause the amino acid chain either to
twist, forming a helix, or to pleat into an accordion pattern (pleated sheet)
Tertiary structure: structure that results from additional bonds forming between functional
groups in a secondary structure, creating a three-dimensional mass
Quaternary structure: most complex protein structure, characterized by the formation of
large, multiunit proteins by more than one of the polypeptides; typical of enzymes that act in
cell synthesis
Enzymes are proteins that speed-up chemical reactions-- be it building-up (anabolic) or
breaking-down (catabolic). The quaternary protein structure is responsible for the integrity
and proper functioning of enzymes.

10. “Protein denaturation” is defined as …

11. The significance of protein denaturation to cellular function and survival is that ….

11. Extremophiles have both protein adaptation and stress tolerance mechanisms. A possible
benefit that health care professionals can derive from understanding them is …

12. The 6 adaptations of extremophilic microbes are ….

13. Protein adaptation is defined as ….

14. Two evidences for protein adaptation being adapted by M. tuberculosis to avoid being killed by
macrophages are …

15. pH adaptation is defined as ….

16. Aside from M. tuberculosis, 2 other pathogenic bacteria that have pH adaptation are …

17. Temperature adaptation could either be through heat shock or cold shock mechanisms. The
main difference between the two is ….

18. Psychrophilic microorganisms need to survive extreme and permanent cold temperature. At
least 5 metabolic challenges psychrophiles need to hurdle for their survival are …

19. Under a high-pressure environment, extremophiles must strategize to survive. The main
differences between intrinsic and extrinsic adaptations are …

20. Halophiles have adapted their cellular machinery to thrive in varying salt concentrations in
the cell cytoplasm. The proteins in halophilic organisms adapt to these saline conditions and
remain active. 3 examples of halophilic proteins are ...

21. The mechanism by which ultraviolet rays in the sunlight affect survival of extremophiles is …
22. In general, the 2 adaptations against radiation observed in extremophiles are …

23. While acidophiles have mechanisms that enable them to fight the generation of proton (acid)
gradient, the challenge for the intracellular pathogens M. tb to survive acidic conditions of
lysosome (organelle for killing microbes) within a cell. The 3 survival strategies of M. tb are …

24. Extremozymes are proteins that show enhanced stability and offer promising platforms for
biocatalysis and biotransformation. An example of a biotechnological application of a
thermophilic extremophile, such a polymerase chain reaction, is …

25. The common protein adaptive strategies that keep cellular proteins stable and functional
under different set of extreme stresses in extremophiles and Mycobacterium tuberculosis are …

In conclusion, proteome is the sum total of an organism’s set of proteins produced by

translation of messenger RNA. The presence of these proteins safeguards the cell against a wide
array of extreme conditions such as temperature, pressure, radiations, chemicals, drugs etc. An
insight into these adaptive mechanisms in extremophiles could help find ways to alter the genes
and proteins that may have therapeutic potential and commercial value. The authors presented
an overview of the various adaptations in extremophiles. They also tried to offer explanation of
how Mycobacterium channelizes its proteome to survive in stress conditions posed by host
immune system.