XTREMOLIFE: An EU Initiative to Unlock the Biotechnological Potential of Extremophiles

SUMMARY: The EU-funded project XTREMOLIFE aims to accelerate the bioprospecting and biodiscovery of extremophile microorganisms from desert, polar, and volcanic environments, as well as the identification of their bioactive compounds, including enzymes, metabolites, and novel chemical agents.

Supported by a €4.5 million budget from Cluster 6 of the Horizon Europe programme, the project unites 11 partners across five European countries, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and France, to foster cross-border collaboration in pursuit of its ambitious goals.

Extremophiles are micro-organisms that thrive under extreme environmental conditions such as high salinity, intense heat or cold, and highly acidic or alkaline pH levels. These remarkable organisms are of great scientific interest across disciplines, from ecology and evolution to studies on the origins of life and the search for life beyond Earth. Because their habitats are difficult to access and cultivate, extremophiles remain a largely untapped source of bioactive compounds with significant scientific and industrial potential.

Aligned with the European Union’s ambition for a circular and sustainable blue bioeconomy, the XTREMOLIFE project applies cutting-edge biotechnology and environmentally friendly approaches to advance the understanding of extremophile organisms and explore their potential applications.

The project investigates remote and extreme environments that are challenging to reach due to their harsh climatic and physicochemical conditions. To support this, deployable and portable sensor and sampling platforms, including the FerryBox, XTREMOsensor, and machine learning–based microscopic imaging systems, are being developed.

These innovative tools can operate from ships, small vessels, or during on-site expeditions and will be deployed in extreme aquatic ecosystems such as the Antarctic (polar, cold, variable salinity), the Canary Islands (volcanic, high temperature, low pH, arid), and the Tabernas Desert in Spain (desertic, hypersaline, high temperature, low rainfall).

The systems will deliver real-time environmental data to optimize sampling and collection strategies, expanding the frontiers of field research in these unique environments.

In parallel, XTREMOLIFE will explore the extensive culture collections of extremophiles maintained by project partners, a valuable but still underexplored resource. The project aims to elucidate how these microbial communities thrive, interact, and can be harnessed for industrial applications in fields such as pharmaceuticals, chemistry, and biotechnology.

Project Objectives: Uncovering the Potential of Extremophilic Micro-organisms

• Develop and optimize tailor-made sampling methods to explore and better understand extreme environments, ensuring all activities comply with EU regulations on ethics, safety, and responsible research in science and technology.
• Investigate marine and other aquatic ecosystems characterized by complex and extreme conditions, focusing on extremophilic micro-organisms that can survive and thrive in such challenging habitats.
• Uncover the metabolic, physiological, and adaptive mechanisms that enable extremophiles to withstand harsh ecological conditions, providing new insights into their unique survival strategies.
• Optimize the cultivation and production of bioactive compounds from extremophilic micro-organisms under industrially relevant, safe, and sustainable (SSbD) conditions, advancing the potential for innovative biotechnological applications.

XTREMOLIFE Project Partners: A Consortium of Leading European Institutions and Innovators

The XTREMOLIFE consortium brings together 11 partners from five European countries, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and France, representing a balanced mix of academic, research, and industrial expertise:

• Wageningen University (WU) – University, Netherlands
• Algreen B.V. – Private company, Netherlands
• Norsk Institutt for Vannforskning (NIVA) – Research institute, Norway
• Nord Universitet (NORD) – University, Norway
• GreenCoLab – Collaborative research laboratory, Portugal
• Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) – University, Spain
• Fundación Canaria Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran – Canaria (FCPCT-ULPGC) – Research foundation affiliated with university, Spain
• CIIMAR – Research institute, Portugal
• Erdyn Consultants – Consulting company, France
• Micropia – Science museum and research foundation, Netherlands
• Fykia Biotech – Biotechnology company, Portugal
• Universidad de Huelva (UHU) – University, Spain

astrobiology, extremophile, SynBio,