Extremozymes are enzymes produced by microorganisms that live in extreme habitats. Due to their higher stability, extremozymes is attracting interest as biocatalysts in various industrial processes. In this context, carbohydrate-active extremozymes can be used in various processes relevant to the paper, food and feed industry. In this thesis, the crystal structure, biochemical characterization and the capacity to synthesize prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) were investigated for a β-glucosidase (HoBGLA) from the halothermophilic bacterium Halothermothrix orenii. The wild-type enzyme displays favorable characteristics for lactose hydrolysis and produces a range of prebiotic GOS, of which β-D-Galp-(1→6)-D-Lac and β-D-Galp-(1→3)-D-Lac are the major products (Paper I). To further improve GOS synthesis by HoBGLA, rational enzyme engineering was performed (Paper II). Six enzyme variants were generated by replacing strategically positioned active-site residues. Two HoBGLA variants were identified as potentially interesting, F417S and F417Y. The former appears to synthesize one particular GOS product in higher yield, whereas the latter produces a higher yield of total GOS. In Paper III, the high-resolution crystal structure and biochemical characterization of a hemicellulase (HoAraf43) from  H. orenii is presented. HoAraf43 folds as a five-bladed β-propeller and displays α-Larabinofuranosidase activity. The melting temperature of  HoAraf43 increases significantly in the presence of high salt and divalent cations, which is consistent with H. orenii being a halophile. Furthermore, the crystal structures of a thermostable tetrameric pyranose 2-oxidase from Phanerochaete chrysosporium (PcP2O) were determined to investigate the structural determinants of thermostability (Paper IV). PcP2O has an increased number of salt links between subunits, which may provide a mechanism for increased stability. The structures also imply that the N-terminal region acts as an intramolecular chaperone during homotetramer assembly. / <p>QC 20150429</p>