ABSTRACT
Microorganisms play an important role in development of biotechnological processes like production of bioactive molecules like enzymes, biomaterials like exopolysaccharides, biodegradable plastic, secondary metabolites like antimicrobial compounds and environmental biotechnological processes like bioremediation and bioaugmentation. Many ‘moderate’ microorganisms are known to contribute to industrial and environmental biotechnology. Last four decades have witnessed recognition of unusual microorganisms, extremophiles, which live in extreme environments of temperature, pH and concentration of salt, sugar and atmospheric pressure. They follow different metabolic pathways and therefore are looked upon as a new source of biotechnological products. In this chapter, biotechnological potential of alkaliphilic microorganisms is envisaged. In general, the microorganisms widely occur in normal environment such as neutral pH, temperature of 30 to 37°C. However, on earth, some unusual environments like extreme acidic or alkaline pH and very low or high temperature are created due to geological and other events. It was thought that such extreme environments may not support life (Horikoshi, 1991). Microorganisms that get adapted to such extreme conditions are found to grow in such unusual environments and are termed as extremophiles such as alkaliphiles, halophiles, thermophiles, acidophiles indicating the type of habitat that they live in (Horikoshi, 1991).
