Sso7d is a small protein especially attractive as a model for characterizing by NMR, the structural determinants responsible for thermal stability. With this aim, structural parameters of the Sso7d protein have been compared with those of single point mutants, in particular with K12L, more stable (T m around 1008C) and F31A, less stable (T m 618C) than the wild-type. In addition, a mutant lacking eight residues of the C-terminal helix (T m 508C) has been studied to investigate the role of the helix in structure stabilization. Melting temperatures, DDG's of unfolding, cavities, electrostatic interactions, solvent accessible areas, hydrophobic cores, and aromatic cluster geometries have been analyzed in order to gain insights into the key structural factors determining the thermostability differences. Our data suggest that absence of cavities and a larger salt bridge network represent the major determinants contributing to the enhanced stability of K12L relative to the Sso7d protein and its mutant F31A.Introduction. The interest for thermophilic proteins has increased during the last years for several reasons: first of all they can open a wide field of microbiological and technical industrial applications and processes, furthermore, they provide excellent models for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying protein folding and stabilization, and for describing their functional properties. The stability of proteins from organisms living under extreme conditions is a long standing issue and different authors attributed several factors affecting their greater structural stability with respect to the mesophilic counterpart. 1 It has been pointed out that there is not a unique structural requirement for making a protein thermostable. Several factors have been found to play a relevant role in the protein stability, such as increased hydrophobic and aromatic contacts, optimization of charge-charge interactions, and side chain packing 1 ; however, the mechanisms by which these proteins attain thermostability remain unclear.In the last years we have studied the recombinant form of Sso7d, initially isolated from the thermoacidophilic archeaobacterium Sulfolobus solfataricus living in volcanic hot springs at 878C and displaying a pressure resistance up to 14 kbar. 2 The protein is composed of 62