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| Open AccessInference and reconstruction of the heimdallarchaeial ancestry of eukaryotes
Analyses of multiple phylogenetic marker datasets of Asgard archaea provide insight into the transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, specifically placing eukaryotes within Asgard archaea and as a sister lineage to Hodarchaeales.
- Laura Eme
- , Daniel Tamarit
- & Thijs J. G. Ettema
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Article
| Open AccessActin cytoskeleton and complex cell architecture in an Asgard archaeon
Culture and analysis of ‘Candidatus Lokiarchaeum ossiferum’—a member of the Asgard phylum—reveals an elaborate cell architecture with extensive membranous protrusions.
- Thiago Rodrigues-Oliveira
- , Florian Wollweber
- & Christa Schleper
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Article
| Open AccessBorgs are giant genetic elements with potential to expand metabolic capacity
Borgs are remarkably large, divergent archaeal extrachromosomal elements with metabolic genes linked to the methane cycle.
- Basem Al-Shayeb
- , Marie C. Schoelmerich
- & Jillian F. Banfield
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Article |
Distinct gene clusters drive formation of ferrosome organelles in bacteria
A fez gene cluster drives formation of ferrosomes, a distinct lipid-bounded organelle for iron storage, in diverse bacterial species.
- Carly R. Grant
- , Matthieu Amor
- & Arash Komeili
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Article |
Non-syntrophic methanogenic hydrocarbon degradation by an archaeal species
‘Candidatus Methanoliparum’ overexpresses genes encoding alkyl-coenzyme M and methyl-coenzyme M reductases—markers of archaeal multicarbon alkane and methane metabolism—and thrives on a variety of long-chain alkanes and n-alkylcyclohexanes, and n-alkylbenzenes with long n-alkyl (C≥13) moieties.
- Zhuo Zhou
- , Cui-jing Zhang
- & Lei Cheng
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Article |
Expanded diversity of Asgard archaea and their relationships with eukaryotes
Comparative analysis of 162 genomes of Asgard archaea results in six newly proposed phyla, including a deep branch that is provisionally named Wukongarchaeota, and sheds light on the evolutionary history of this clade.
- Yang Liu
- , Kira S. Makarova
- & Meng Li
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Article |
Isolation of an archaeon at the prokaryote–eukaryote interface
Isolation and characterization of an archaeon that is most closely related to eukaryotes reveals insights into how eukaryotes may have evolved from prokaryotes.
- Hiroyuki Imachi
- , Masaru K. Nobu
- & Ken Takai
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Article |
An anti-CRISPR viral ring nuclease subverts type III CRISPR immunity
Bacteria and archaea use cyclic oligoadenylate molecules as part of the CRISPR system for antiviral defence; here, a family of viral enzymes that rapidly degrades cyclic oligoadenylates is identified and biochemically and structurally described.
- Januka S. Athukoralage
- , Stephen A. McMahon
- & Malcolm F. White
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Letter |
Anaerobic oxidation of ethane by archaea from a marine hydrocarbon seep
An archaeon, ‘Candidatus Argoarchaeum ethanivorans’, which is involved in the oxidation of ethane observed in anoxic marine habitats, is identified and metabolically characterized.
- Song-Can Chen
- , Niculina Musat
- & Florin Musat
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Article |
Asgard archaea illuminate the origin of eukaryotic cellular complexity
This work describes the Asgard superphylum, an assemblage of diverse archaea that comprises Odinarchaeota, Heimdallarchaeota, Lokiarchaeota and Thorarchaeota, offering insights into the earliest days of eukaryotic cells and their complex features.
- Katarzyna Zaremba-Niedzwiedzka
- , Eva F. Caceres
- & Thijs J. G. Ettema
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Thermophilic archaea activate butane via alkyl-coenzyme M formation
Anaerobic archaea enriched in thermophilic microbial consortia completely degrade butane by modifying mechanisms which were hitherto thought to be specific to methane metabolism.
- Rafael Laso-Pérez
- , Gunter Wegener
- & Florin Musat
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Letter |
Intercellular wiring enables electron transfer between methanotrophic archaea and bacteria
Marine anaerobic methanotrophic archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria connect by pili-like nanowires, suggesting that direct interspecies exchange of electrons could be a fundamental mechanism in the anaerobic oxidation of methane.
- Gunter Wegener
- , Viola Krukenberg
- & Antje Boetius
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Complex archaea that bridge the gap between prokaryotes and eukaryotes
This study identifies a clade of archaea that is the immediate sister group of eukaryotes in phylogenetic analyses, and that also has a repertoire of proteins otherwise characteristic of eukaryotes—proteins that would have provided the first eukaryotes with a ‘starter kit’ for the genomic and cellular complexity characteristic of the eukaryotic cell.
- Anja Spang
- , Jimmy H. Saw
- & Thijs J. G. Ettema
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Letter |
CetZ tubulin-like proteins control archaeal cell shape
The structure and function of CetZ, a protein related to both tubulin and FtsZ (the bacterial homologue of tubulin) from the archaeon Haloferax volcanii, is reported and its involvement in the control of cell shape uncovered; it appears that this family of proteins was involved in the control of cell shape long before the evolution of eukaryotes.
- Iain G. Duggin
- , Christopher H. S. Aylett
- & Jan Löwe
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Letter |
Accelerated growth in the absence of DNA replication origins
When all origins of replication are deleted from the archaeon Haloferax volcanii, homologous recombination is used to initiate DNA replication and the growth rate is accelerated.
- Michelle Hawkins
- , Sunir Malla
- & Thorsten Allers
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News & Views |
A piece of the methane puzzle
The identification of a sea-floor microorganism that single-handedly conducts anaerobic oxidation of methane changes our picture of how the flux of this greenhouse gas from the ocean to the atmosphere is regulated. See Article p.541
- Samantha B. Joye
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Letter |
Potential methane reservoirs beneath Antarctica
On the basis of data from other subglacial environments and simulations of the accumulation of methane hydrate in Antarctic sedimentary basins, it seems there could be unsuspected, large stores of methane beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
- J. L. Wadham
- , S. Arndt
- & C. E. H. Butler
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Research Highlights |
New species spring forth
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Article |
Structural basis of highly conserved ribosome recycling in eukaryotes and archaea
Cryo-electron-microscopy reconstructions of eukaryotic and archaeal ribosomes bound by ABCE1 and Pelota suggest a conserved mechanism for ribosome recycling.
- Thomas Becker
- , Sibylle Franckenberg
- & Roland Beckmann
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Review Article |
RNA-guided genetic silencing systems in bacteria and archaea
- Blake Wiedenheft
- , Samuel H. Sternberg
- & Jennifer A. Doudna
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Letter |
Structure of a methyl-coenzyme M reductase from Black Sea mats that oxidize methane anaerobically
The crystal structure of the enzyme MCR from methanogenic archaea shows that it is very similar to that of methanotrophic archaea; the differences observed may tune the enzymes for their respective biological context within the sea mats.
- Seigo Shima
- , Martin Krueger
- & Ulrich Ermler
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Letter |
Evolution of a new enzyme for carbon disulphide conversion by an acidothermophilic archaeon
- Marjan J. Smeulders
- , Thomas R. M. Barends
- & Huub J. M. Op den Camp
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Letter |
Active-site remodelling in the bifunctional fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase/phosphatase
- Juan Du
- , Rafael F. Say
- & Oliver Einsle
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Letter |
Formate-driven growth coupled with H2 production
The oxidation of formate and water to bicarbonate and H2 is relatively common in microorganisms under anaerobic conditions. But can this reaction sustain growth in an isolated species? Here it is shown that several individual Thermococcus species can use formate oxidation for growth. Moreover, the biochemical basis of this ability is delineated.
- Yun Jae Kim
- , Hyun Sook Lee
- & Sung Gyun Kang
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Letter |
Phosphate oxygen isotopic evidence for a temperate and biologically active Archaean ocean
It has been thought that ocean temperatures during the early Palaeoarchaean era (around 3.5 billion years ago) were 55–85 °C. But a recent study indicated that the temperatures might be no higher than 40 °C. Here, studies are reported of the oxygen isotope compositions of phosphates in sediments from the 3.2–3.5-billion-year-old Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. The findings indicate a well-developed phosphorus cycle and evolved biological activity in an Archaean ocean with temperatures of 26–35 °C.
- Ruth E. Blake
- , Sae Jung Chang
- & Aivo Lepland
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Article |
Ubiquitin-like small archaeal modifier proteins (SAMPs) in Haloferax volcanii
Although Archaea encode proteasomes highly related to those of eukaryotes, archaeal ubiquitin-like proteins are less conserved and not known to function in protein conjugation, complicating our understanding of the origins of ubiquitination. Two small archaeal modifier proteins, SAMP1 and SAMP2, structurally similar to ubiquitin, are now reported to form protein conjugates in the archaeon Haloferax volcanii.
- Matthew A. Humbard
- , Hugo V. Miranda
- & Julie A. Maupin-Furlow