Extremophiles and the origin of life -- Thermal environments and biodiversity -- Functional genomics in thermophilic microorganisms -- How nucleic acids cope with high temperature -- How thermophiles cope with thermolabile metabolites -- Temperature-dependent molecular adaptation features in proteins -- The physiological role, biosynthesis and mode of action of compatible solutes from (hyper)thermophiles -- Membrane adaptations of (hyper)thermophiles to high temperatures -- Ecology and biodiversity of cold-adapted microorganisms -- Life in ice formations at very cold temperatures -- Lake Vostok and subglacial lakes of Antarctica: do they host life? Guido di Prisco -- Psychrophiles: membrane adaptations -- Cold-adapted enzymes -- The cold-shock response -- Perception and transduction of low temperature in bacteria -- An interplay between metabolic and physicochemical constraints: lessons from the psychrophilic prokaryote genomes -- Biodiversity in highly saline environments -- Response to osmotic stress in a haloarchaeal genome: a role for general stress proteins and global regulatory mechanisms -- Molecular adaptation to high salt -- Physiology and ecology of acidophilic microorganisms -- Acidophiles: mechanisms to tolerate metal and acid toxicity -- Genomics of acidophiles Angelov and W. Liebl -- Environmental and taxonomic biodiversities of gram-positive alkaliphiles -- Bioenergetic adaptations that support alkaliphily -- Microbial adaptation to high pressure -- Astrobiology and the search for life in the universe -- Extremophiles, a unique resource of biocatalysts for industrial biotechnology -- Lessons from extremophiles: early evolution and border conditions of life.