ABSTRACT
Throughout the world, there are various extreme regions unhabitable for most living organisms which are inhabited by various extremophilic microorganisms. These extremophiles have adopted several strategies to thrive in extremely harsh environments such as by producing enzymes, proteins, metabolites, and exopolysaccharides that can withstand extreme conditions. The exopolysaccharides produced by the extremophiles help the microorganisms to thrive in the harsh environment by providing better cell-to-cell adhesion, cell-to-substratum adhesion, concentrating nutrients, preventing dehydration, and retaining the moisture level. Exopolysaccharides from extremophiles have unique compositions such as over-sulfation, which makes them an interesting candidate for industrial application. In this chapter, we summarize the production of exopolysaccharides from different extremophiles and their potential application in health and bioremediation of the environment.
