Anergiobiosis: a testable framework for microbial life under extreme power limitation

Paul Carini, Roland Hatzenpichler, Jennifer F Biddle

"Aeonophily" was recently suggested as a new category of extremophily for ultra-slow-growing subsurface microorganisms. This terminology conflates a physiological state with potential extremophilic specialization. We propose "anergiobiosis" to describe life without sufficient power to sustain cell division, separating this state from questions about specialization. Analogous to temperature extremophiles, microbes may exhibit distinct maintenance power optima, with aeonophiles representing low-power specialists. We outline testable hypotheses for establishing whether specific taxa possess such adaptations.