Exploring knowledge about microbes living in the extreme environments – the resources review

Extremophiles are organisms that tolerate or require to live the extreme ranges of variation ofthe environmental factors such as temperature, pH, salinity, concentrations of heavy metals, highhydrostatic pressure, ionizing radiation, ultraviolet, availability of water, light, oxygen, and nutritionallylimited environments, etc. Exposure to such diverse factors caused, in the light of evolutionary changes,the appearence of many biochemical adaptations. In most cases, extremophiles are unicellular organismsbelonging to the Archaea domain, but there are also representatives of other domains (Bacteria,Eucaryota) and multicellular organisms. The diversity of the Internet resources and printed materials(scientific publications) reflect areas of this interest. Special characteristics of extremophiles are ofinterest to researchers in various fields of biological sciences (astrobiology, ecology, biotechnology,biospeleology). The purpose of this article is to review the most representative resources aboutmicroorganisms living in extreme environments and indicate the directions of the future research.