Cold-environment metagenomics for discovering novel microorganisms and enzymes

The environmental conditions on planet earth are extremely diverse, with enormous variations in pressure, pH, temperature and salt concentration. All these environments are inhabited by living organisms, particularly microorganisms which have adapted to the different extremes of environments. Among various extreme environments, low temperature is very common both in natural and man-made environments. Low temperature environment is a source for the isolation of cold adapted enzymes of commercial and industrial importance. In the recent past, metagenomics have been employed as a powerful approach for the isolation of novel genes, enzymes and bioactive molecules from the yet to be cultured component of microbial communities prevailing in various environments