THERE IS a gold rush under way but not one that yields the bright yellow metal. It is a “bio gold rush”, one that delivers riches of a different sort.

It involves isolating microbial organisms that in turn can produce highly valuable substances – enzymes and other proteins that have unique properties.

This new world of bio prospecting is Indiana Jones territory. Biochemists go to the most extreme places on Earth searching for new organisms with life skills that could teach us a thing or two. Of particular interest are extremophiles, organisms living in harsh conditions that can be so useful in a variety of ways and, consequently, are valuable. The bottom of the Dead Sea, Antarctic thermafrost, the sides of active volcanoes in Iceland: these are the places one looks to find extremophiles.

If they are able to live and thrive in harsh conditions, they may become useful components in a variety of human processes, from food production to gene cloning.

While we may not have extreme conditions in Ireland, much work is being carried out here in the area, particularly in University College Dublin. Dr Jane Irwin of the UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine recently wrote a review of the commercial applications of extremophiles in veterinary medicine and the food industry.

“Their application will depend on the type of organism you’re looking for,” she says. A lot of research is going into therma-stable enzymes, eg amylase, which can break down starch at high temperatures. “Other useful enzymes are found in psychrophile organisms, who like low temperatures and are used in bread processing,” she explains.

There is also a lot of interest in molecules from halophiles, which thrive in salty conditions. Some compounds are used as an additive for cosmetics and have various applications in dermatology. Others can be used to break down lactose in milk, she says.

Thermophiles have been the darlings of bio prospecting for some time, mainly because of their use in gene cloning. "If you want to clone a gene or amplify a piece of DNA – in forensic science, for example – you identify the DNA of something with a small trace," explains Francesca Paradisi of the UCD School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. "Then a thermophilic enzyme known as Taqpolymerase is used to amplify the DNA. This discovery has led to major progress in this field."

Researcher Brian E Jones of Dutch Industrial biotechnology giant Genencor, has travelled extensively around the globe to search for extreme enzymes. “We spent the 1980s mainly searching for new thermophiles that degraded wood without the need for oxygen,” he says. “Up until a few years, no one believed that bacteria could grow in hot environments.

“A few pioneering scientists were beginning to demonstrate that hot springs had thriving microbial populations. Initially we sampled hot springs in Italy and later went on to get samples from Iceland, Java and New Zealand. Many of the organisms we isolated were new (at the time), because they did not conform to the description of any known bacterium.”

While bio prospectors have been looking for thermophiles for decades, the search for those living in colder conditions is relatively new. “It has only just dawned on scientists that enzymes that are only active at low temperatures could have a lot of value, particularly in the context of the food industry,” says Prof Paul Engel of the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science. “If you want to process something that is temperature sensitive and will lose its flavour if heated – like yoghurt – then treating it at a low temperature, with the assistance of a psychrophilic enzyme, solves the problem.”

Antarctica is characterised as a cold and dry place, locally also salty, and exposed to high levels of UV radiation. Psychrophilic, xerophilic (which survive with little water) and halophilic organisms are said to thrive there. There has been a lot of activity at the South Pole of late where a “bio gold rush” of sorts has been ongoing for the last decade.

You never know where you might have to go looking for the next big thing. Some fish that live in Antarctic waters have a natural “antifreeze” in their blood that stops ice crystals forming inside them. One such anti-freeze chemical is a glycoprotein. “Unilever adds this protein to its ice cream to improve the texture,” says UCD’s Irwin.

Spanish scientists have extracted proteins from an Antarctic bacteria used to treat damaged hair, skin and nails as well as having wound-healing properties. Another product with anti-cancer properties patented by Russian scientists has been extracted from Antarctic black yeast.

The question of intellectual property rights and ecosystem damage, however, tends to darken the image of the 21st-century gold rush. The Antarctic is considered politically neutral (its status is regulated by the 1959 Antarctic Treaty). The problem is that no one country or organisation owns the genetic resources there. This means eco-system damage is likely happening but going unpunished.

There has also been criticism of scientists travelling to parts of Asia, Africa and South America to exploit the value of locally found organisms that the native population are ill equipped to exploit themselves.

The law has yet to catch up with the growing levels of activity in this area but nations are getting more conscious of what micro resources they have. “Countries of origin are now very much aware of the biotechnological potential of newly discovered strains and object to exporting them,” says Prof Erwin Galinski, managing director of the Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology in Bonn.

“The problem with microbes is that they are universal [they spread around the globe with trade and air streams] and can be isolated anywhere. It is therefore almost impossible to prove the original source of isolation.”

Bio piracy vs bio prospecting

BIO PROSPECTING can be very beneficial in terms of advancing medical and scientific research. But at what cost? Bio piracy is the commercial use of naturally occurring biological materials by a technologically advanced country or business without just return afforded to the nation in which the material derived. This has been a controversial issue in recent years.

Loving your new stone-washed jeans? That look is in fact created by an enzyme found in Lake Bogoria in Kenya. The enzyme was extracted and processed in the late 1980s and is now owned by Californian company Genencor International. In 2004, Kenyan authorities brought an international lawsuit against Genencor for what they believed to be a violation of intellectual property rights law. The issue remains unresolved.

International law is not clear in this area. Developing countries argue scientists from multinational corporations are prospecting for species in their extreme climates and then guarding their discoveries by, for example, using “breeders’ rights”.

“They are not so much patenting/intellectual property rights issues as issues under the Biodiversity Convention (1992),” says Brian E Jones of Genencor International.

“A lot of countries do not have the specific instruments in place to deal with this issue. In those countries that have legislation it is frequently such a bureaucratic nightmare that I doubt many companies are prepared to go down that road. We are certainly not.”

The X philes

ThermophilesThrive at high temperatures (between 45 and 122 degrees)

PsychrophilesPrefer living at low temperatures (-15 to +10 degrees)

AcidophilesThrive under highly acidic conditions (at ph 2 or below)

AlkaliphilesThrive in alkaline environments with a ph of 9 to 11

HalophilesLive in environments with very high concentrations of salt

BarophilesCan survive under great physical pressure

XerophilesThrive in conditions with very little water