Adaptation of proteins from hyperthermophiles to high pressure and high temperature.

Further clarification of the adaptations permitting the persistence of life at temperatures above 100 degrees C depends in part on the analysis of adaptive mechanisms at the protein level. The hyperthermophiles include both Bacteria and Archaea, although the majority of isolates growing at or above 100 degrees C are Archaea. Newly described adaptive features of hyperthermophiles include proteins whose structural integrity persists at temperatures up to 200 degrees C, and under elevated hydrostatic pressure, which in some cases adds significant increments of stability.