Alkaliphiles are some of the major extremophiles which occupy a certain
niche of the globe where the pH values are usually two unit higher that the neutrality.
Although abundantly found in rare geographical regions, these organisms are of
immense importance in terms of their enzymatic activities which enable them to be
functional under extreme alkaline conditions and therefore have numerous industrial
and biotechnological applications. Their unique mode of adaptation and exclusive
ability of resource utilisation make their existence interesting for biotechnological
research. The study of alkaliphiles revealed the potential of these microorganisms in
the bioremediation of the soda lake, their efficiency to degrade complex organic
compounds and a certain class of antibiotics produced by them are of immense
importance for the pharmaceutical industries. Recent advancements in genetic studies
and recombinant DNA technology allowed the understanding of their genetic
modifications which are unique to their taxa and helped researchers to utilise their
coding sequence for isolation and purification of commercially important alkaline
active enzymes. Despite all the beneficial effects, the isolation, culturing and study of
alkaliphiles are among the most challenging tasks and matters of continuous research.
This chapter will elaborate on the existence of some important alkaliphilic bacteria in
the rare alkaline region of the globe, the diversities among them, their metabolic
activities, unique adaptation and modifications in their structural and genomic profile
and also summarises the commercially important product isolated from them.
Keywords: Antiporters, Alkaliphiles, Alkaline proteases, Applications of alkaliphiles, Biofuels, Bioplastics, Bioremediation, Cell membrane, Diversity of alkaliphiles, Extremophiles, Fatty acid, Transporters, Transposons.
