Archaeal biology articles from across Nature Portfolio

During archaeal cell division, proteins containing photosynthetic reaction centre domains enable the formation of a defined cell division plane by direct interaction with SepF.

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

CRISPR arrays form the physical memory of prokaryotic adaptive immune systems by incorporating viral DNA sequences as spacers. Here, Blombach et al. show that transcription factor Cbp1 recruits chromatin protein Cren7 at CRISPR arrays, forming ‘chimeric’ chromatin-like structures that regulate expression of long CRISPR arrays in Sulfolobales archaea.

Key cellular processes, such as cell-shape determination, are poorly understood in archaea. Here, Schiller et al. study the model archaeon Haloferax volcanii, which forms rods and disks, and identify a diverse set of proteins important for these processes, including a new actin homolog that plays a role in the formation of disk-shaped cells.

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.

In Pyrococcus furiosus, histones bind and bend DNA to enable integration of new spacer fragments into CRISPR loci.

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.

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 reports the cultivation of a member of the Asgard archaea, which are the closest living relatives of the cells that gave rise to eukaryotes.

This month’s Genome Watch highlights the unique evolutionary history, metabolic functions, and newly identified viruses and associated mobile genetic elements for the highly abundant and ubiquitous ammonia-oxidizing archaea.

The early identification of repetitive genomic loci in Haloferax species was instrumental in igniting interest in CRISPR–Cas systems. Now, work in this genus has revealed an important role of CRISPR–Cas in reducing an unusual form of inter-species archaeal mating that occurs by cell fusion.