Archaeal physiology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Methanogens conserve energy through methane generation, however the biochemical details of anaerobic respiration in methanogens remain unclear. Here, authors show a multiheme c-type cytochrome, MmcA, plays a critical role in methanogenesis and anaerobic respiration.

Diverse bacteria can use the low levels of hydrogen and carbon monoxide present in the air as energy sources for growth and survival. Here, Leung et al. show that ability is also found in thermophilic archaea of the order Sulfolobales.

Photosynthesis reaction centre barrel proteins are important components of the FtsZ-based cell division apparatus in Haloferax volcanii and other archaea.

Anaerobic methanotrophic (ANME) archaea are uncultivated microbes that oxidize the greenhouse gas methane and engage in extracellular electron transfer with other microbes, metal oxides, and electrodes. Here, Ouboter et al. observe strong methane-dependent current associated with high enrichment of ANME archaea on the anode, and provide insights into the mechanisms underlying extracellular electron transfer.

The archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes belonged to the phylum Asgardarchaeota, or Asgard archaea. Here, the authors use ancestral sequence reconstruction and experimentally determine the optimal GDP-binding temperature of a translation elongation factor from ancient and extant Asgard archaea, to infer optimal growth temperatures for eukaryotes’ ancestors.

NAD serves as a 5′-terminal cap for bacterial and eukaryotic transcripts, and can be degraded at high temperatures to generate ADP-ribose (ADPR). Here, Gomes-Filho et al. identify NAD-RNAs in thermophilic and mesophilic archaea and provide insights into NAD- and ADPR-mediated turnover of RNAs in these organisms.

This study shows that Haloferax volcanii uses its type IV pili for cell attachment to a surface and mechanical cohesion between cells under flow conditions, thus promoting biofilm development.

‘Candidatus Methanoperedens nitroreducens’, an anaerobic methanotrophic archaeon, sectors itself into two morphologically and functionally distinct populations that enable adaptation and cross-species interactions in a dynamic bioreactor ecosystem.

This study reports that a short prokaryotic argonaute protein from the archaeon Sulfolobus islandicus and its genetically associated proteins Aga1 and Aga2 confer antiviral defence by abortive infection.

This study shows that FtsZ1 and FtsZ2 have different functions during archaeal cell division.

This study challenges the previous suggestion that many environmental bacteria have been cultured already and concludes that most remain uncultured.

This study reports the identification and characterization of spindle-shaped viruses that infect a marine ammonia-oxidizing thaumarchaeon and that are distinct from other known marine viruses.