Hyperthermophilic microorganisms

Could it be the case that microorganisms, like the suspected fossils in the Mars meteorite ALH 84001, exist in the Martian soil This question leads to the counterquestion as to whether it has previously been possible to detect and study life (primitive life forms) under highly extreme conditions. Are there such conditions on Earth We now know quite a lot about extremophiles such as the thermophilic, halophilic and hyperthermophilic microorganisms. 

Stetter KO (2002) Hyperthermophilic microorganisms. In Horneck G, Baumstark-Khan C (eds) Astrobiology the Quest for the Conditions of Life. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 169-184... 

In Volumes 330,331, and 334 of Methods in Enzymology, a set of protocols has been assembled that for the first time describe the methods involved in studying the biochemistry and biophysics of enzymes and proteins from hyperthermophilic microorganisms. As is evident from the various chapters, hyperthermophilic coun-terpatts to a range of previously studied but less thermostable enzymes exist. In addition, the volumes include descriptions of many novel enzymes that were first... 

It was shown that hyperthermophilic microorganisms specifically contained a large variety of dicarboxylic acids. This is probably the most important difference between these microorganisms and other marine bacteria. Dioic fatty acids from C16 to C22 were found in an hyperthermophilic archaeon, Pyrococcus furiosus. Short and medium chain (up to 11 carbon atoms) dioic acids have been discovered in Cyanobacteria of the genus Aphanizomenon. 

Bhattacharya, D. Friedl, T. Schmidt, H.A. (1999) The phytogeny of thermophiles and hyperthermophiles and the three domains of life. In Enigmatic Microorganisms and Life in Extreme Environments, Seckbach, J., ed., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands, pp. 291-304. 

Besides sponges and algae, enzymes were also isolated from marine organisms and microorganisms. For example, polymerases and proteases from marine Vibrio sp. [352], marine bacterium such as Alcaligenes faecalis [353], and from archaeons, such as the psychrophilic Cenarchaeum symbiosum [354], and the hyperthermophile archaeons Pyrococcus furiosus [355], Sulfolobus solfataricus [356], and Aeropyrum pernix [357] transferases from marine bacterium such as Vibrio vulnificus... 

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