Study Of Plasma Membrane Fluidity And Its Cold-adaptation Of Antarctic Yeast Rhdotorula Sp. NJ298

The South Pole is one of the coldest areas on the earth. Just because of special physiological characteristic, sea ice microorganisms play a fundamental role in polar ecosystems. Apart from their ecological importance, the microorganisms found in sea ice have become the focus for novel biotechnology, potential source of the new-style biological active substances, as well as the basic research on life forms diversity. Detailed understanding of early events as cells respond to environmental stress requires focus on the plasma membrane. Under Antarctic extreme condition, maintenance of an optimum membrane fluidity became a crucial challenge for microorganisms in survival at low temperature. The compositions of plasma membrane had an important role in fine tuning the regulation of membrane fluidity. Structural and functional differences between various membrane-bound compartments within a cell can be studied through separation of their associated membranes and subsequent investigation of purified fractions. These investigations include: analysis of protein composition, measuring activity of membrane-bound enzymes, measurements of lipid bilayer fluidity, or analyses of membrane lipid composition. Consequently, isolation of purified membrane fractions has found broad application in many diverse fields of investigation.The plasma membrane of a unicellular microorganism possesses all the necessary components allowing it to sense and respond to signals in its surrounding environment. Antarctic yeast provided an attractive model for studies on biological aspects of cold adaptation.Our research was developed in these five areas by using Antartic yeast NJ298 as testing strain: analyzed the main composition of carotenoids, identification of Antartic...