Figure 19.14: What Is the Highest Temperature Compatible with Life? Can any organism thrive at temperatures above 120°C? This is the temperature used for sterilization, known to destroy all previously described organisms. Kazem Kashefi and Derek Lovley isolated an unidentified prokaryote from water samples taken near a hydrothermal vent and found that it survived and even multiplied at 121°C. The organism was dubbed “Strain 121,” and its gene sequencing results indicate that it is an archaeal species.a