A microscopic species, Desulforudis audaxviator, has been discovered deep in South African gold mines. What makes this species unique is that it is self-sufficient, forming a single life form ecosystem. Where we need plants and bacteria, they need need us and we all need the sun, this creature doesn't need anybody.
The first thing that came to my mind wasn't the implications for the possibility of life in minimal forms on other planets, but rather how this life form or something like it could be used in the early stage of terraforming. Heck, if we can seed life on a lifeless planet or moon, why not do it? What came to my mind was that if no life is ever found on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons that may well have warm liquid water, we could surely sow some. D. audaxviator, even without genetic modifications, might hold up pretty well in some otherwise extreme environments in our solar system.
See:
One-Organism Ecosystem Discovered in African Gold Mine (Wired.com)
Thursday’s Enceladus flyby pictures (CNN.com)
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