Preface. The archaea: Their history and significance (C.R. Woese). List of contributors. Chapter 1. Central metabolism of the archaea (M.J. Danson). 2. Bioenergetics of extreme halophites (V.P. Skulachev). 3. Biochemistry of methanogenesis (L. Daniels, B. Mukhopadhyay). 4. Bioenergetics and transport in methanogens and related thermophilic archaea (P. Schönheit). 5. Signal transduction in halobacteria (D. Oesterhelt, W. Marwan). 6. Ion transport rhodopsins (bacteriorhodopsin and halorhodopsin): Structure and function (J.K. Lanyi). 7. Proteins of extreme thermophiles (R. Hensel). 8. Cell envelopes of archaea: Structure and chemistry (O. Kandler, H. König). 9. Membrane lipids of archaea (M. Kates). 10. The membrane-bound enzymes of the archaea (L.I. Hochstein). 11. Chromosome structure, DNA topoisomerases, and DNA polymerases in archaebacteria (archaea) (P. Forterre, C. Elie). 12. Transcription in archaea (W. Zillig, P. Palm, H.-P. Klenk, D. Langer, U. Hüdepohl, J. Hain, M. Lanzendörfer, I. Holz). 13. Translation in archaea (R. Amils, P. Cammarano, P. Londei). 14. The structure, function and evolution of archaeal ribosomes (C. Ramirez, A.K.E. Köpke, D.-C. Yang, T. Boeckh, A.T. Matheson). 15. Halobacterial genes and genomes (L.C. Schalkwyk). 16. Structure and function of methanogen genes (J.R. Palmer, J.N. Reeve). 17. Archaeal hyperthermophile genes (J.Z. Dalgaard, R.A. Garrett). Epilogue (W.F. Doolittle). Index.