Archaeal physiology

‘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.

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.