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Thousands of genes from deep-sea marine life are being used to create new commercial products ranging from pharmaceuticals to cosmetics. Genes are segments of DNA that provide instructions for making other molecules that are essential for the structure and function of living organisms.

In a paper we recently published with other colleagues, we investigated how bioprospecting—the search and discovery of potential products from animals, plants and microbes—could serve as a less destructive alternative to deep-sea mining.

Notably, all of the largest companies using marine genes have sourced them from deep-sea organisms in some capacity. Deep-sea animals possess unique genes that allow them to live in an environment unlike anything else on Earth, with its intense cold, crushing pressure and total darkness.

What are these organisms? Most are microbes that have evolved over millions of years to thrive in extreme conditions. Among the most uniquely adapted are those found around hydrothermal vents, where mineral-rich seawater, superheated by magma, erupts from cracks in the ocean floor.

Deep-sea enzymes, a type of molecule encoded by the genes of organisms that live in extreme environments, are stable in conditions that other enzymes often cannot function. Their ability to catalyze chemical reactions under high pressure and a wide range of temperatures makes them commercially valuable for making industrial and consumer products, including drugs, food, detergents and biofuels.

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