Method and use for surface display of proteins and peptide derivatives in a bacterial thermophile

Provided are compositions are methods for discovery of new materials and interactions under extreme environmental conditions such as elevated temperatures at or in excess of 60° C. A synthetic thermostable protein is provided that is linked to a target peptide. A library of target peptides may be linked to a plurality of the thermostable proteins for expression on the cell surface of a thermophilic organism. The composition employs a modified form of the T. thermophilus TtoA protein that has a non-naturally occurring N-terminus for associating with a target peptide thereby expressing the target peptide on the outer cell membrane where the thermophilic protein is stable at high temperatures for discovery of materials useful in extreme environments or for us in study conditions that require or suffer under elevated temperatures.