Fungi are the only group of organisms in the Eukarya kingdom that can survive at temperature ranges of 50–60 °C. Thermophilic fungi have been reported from a number of habitats, with most of them belonging to the fungal order Sordariales. Thermophilic fungi have great biotechnological potential due to their ability to produce industrial-relevant thermostable enzymes, in particular for the degradation of plant biomass. Gene transfer and genetic exchange Sulfolobus solfataricus and Sulfolobus acidocaldarius are hyperthermophilic archaea. When these organisms are exposed to the DNA damaging agents UV irradiation, bleomycin or mitomycin C, species-specific cellular aggregation is induced. In S. acidocaldarius, UV-induced cellular aggregation mediates chromosomal marker exchange with high frequency. Recombination rates exceed those of uninduced cultures by up to three orders of magnitude. Frols et al. and Ajon et al.(2011) hypothesized that cellular aggregation enhances species-specific DNA transfer between Sulfolobus cells in order to provide increased repair of damaged DNA by means of homologous recombination. Van Wolferen et al., in discussing DNA exchange in the hyperthermophiles under extreme conditions, noted that DNA exchange likely plays a role in repair of DNA via homologous recombination. They suggested that this process is crucial under DNA damaging conditions such as high temperature. Also it has been suggested that DNA transfer in Sulfolobus may be a primitive form of sexual interaction similar to the more well-studied bacterial transformation systems that are associated with species-specific DNA transfer between cells leading to homologous recombinational repair of DNA damage (see Transformation (genetics)). See also Hyperthermophile Mesophile Psychrophile Anaerobic digestion Archaea Sulfolobus References External links How hot is too Hot? T-Limit Expedition Anaerobic digestion Biodegradation Biodegradable waste management Thermozoa Geysers Morocco articles missing geocoordinate data