1 of 1 You are a scientist on board on a mission exploring undersea volcanic ven
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1 of 1 You are a scientist on board on a mission exploring undersea volcanic vents around the Hawaian Islands. On your expedition ship you have a fully equipped laboratory where you can do advanced microscopy, cellular biology and biochemical characterization of the life forms you encounter You encounter a NEW Unicellular EUKARYOTIC This organism thrives in the following conditions: The temperature is 78" C The Oxygen content is extremely low The sulfur content is very high, and·lives in complete darkness. -The organism is capable of producing abundant ATP The organism is capable of maintaining a resting potential of about-60 mV, and it also quickly eliminates xenobiotics using a co-transport mechanism depending on Na gradients Based on these observations, and what you have leamed in this course and please discuss the following 1) What would be the composition of the cel membrane be? 2) What type of energy metabolism would it it have? 3) What would the enzyme activity profiles in relation to temperature look like? pH (think about the environment it is in...) 4) How does it maintain a constant resting potential, and, use it for Xenobiotic transport? Please note that I am not asking you to identify the organism, and moreover, this is an entirely hypothetical scenario. Have fun!Explanation / Answer
1. cell membrane will be highly fluid in nature as the organism thrive in higher temperature it will contain large amount of saturated hydrocarbons and will be fluid in nature.
2. the organism is anaerobic and prefer to live in dark marshy conditions rich in sulfur thus it supports chemolithotrophic metabolism where it utilize sulfur as electron source
3. the environment is hot and very acidic in nature, enzymes will be working very slow as bonds will be changed changing shape of enzyme.
4. because the membrane is fluid in nature it allows passage of ions across membrane easily but due to sulfur concentration is high in enviroment organism might be using osmobalancing lipids in membrane which maintains equal distribution of ions across membrane.
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