Prokaryotic Diversity from Extreme Environments of Pakistan and its Potential Applications at Regional Levels

Abstract

Extremophiles, the microorganisms thriving in extreme environments, provide valuable resources for practicing novel biotechnological processes. Pakistan homes a wide spectrum of extreme environments which harbor various biotechnologically significant microorganisms. This review gauges the structural and functional bacterial diversity of several extreme environments, emphasizing their potentials as a source of extremozymes, and in bioleaching, bioremediation, and bioenergy production at regional level. Further, this review highlights a panoramic account of the local natural conservatories of extremophiles. The inadequacies of current fragmental research are discussed with suggestions to quantitatively define the structural and functional diversity of unexplored extreme localities.