An organism that grows best at temperatures close to freezing.
- Hoover initially went to the CRREL tunnel in search of ‘psychrophiles’ - organisms that live only at extremely low temperatures.
- Psychrophilic enzymes are present in psychrophiles, organisms that have adapted to very cold climates, such as those microorganisms living in the Artic and Antarctic regions.
- Bacteria growing at low temperature are generally grouped into two categories, psychrotrophs and psychrophiles, both having the ability to grow at zero and subzero temperatures.
- Example sentences
- In a refrigerator these organisms are repressed; instead, psychrophilic bacteria attack the milk protein and turn the milk alkaline and smelly.
- Meanwhile, Earth-dwelling extremophile microorganisms, both thermophilic (heat-loving) and psychrophilic (cold-loving), are variously adapted to temperatures that would fry us or freeze us.
- For psychrophilic fungi this can be achieved by reducing the air humidity and by preventing the formation of a water film on the canopy by using internal air circulation, heating or ventilation.
1920s: from Greek psukhros 'cold' + -phile.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: psy¦chro|phile
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