Archaea: Evolution, Physiology, And Molecular Biology

Introduced by Crafoord Prize winner Carl Woese, this volume combines reviews of the major developments in archaeal research over the past 10–15 years with more specialized articles dealing with important recent breakthroughs. Drawing on major themes presented at the June 2005 meeting held in Munich to honor the archaea pioneers Wolfram Zillig and Karl O. Stetter, the book provides a thorough survey of the field from its controversial beginnings to its ongoing expansion to include aspects of eukaryotic biology.

The editors have assembled articles from the premier researchers in this rapidly burgeoning field, including an account by Carl Woese of his original discovery of the Archaea (until 1990 termed archaebacteria) and the initially mixed reactions of the scientific community. The review chapters and specialized articles address the emerging significance of the Archaea within a broader scientific and technological context, and include accounts of cutting-edge research developments. The book spans archaeal evolution, physiology, and molecular and cellular biology and will be an essential reference for both graduate students and researchers.

Roger A. Garrett is a Professor at Copenhagen University, where he leads the Danish Archaea Center. He has worked previously at different European Universities and Research Institutes including: University College, London, the MRC Biophysics Unit at Kings College, London, the University of Leiden, the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics, Berlin and the University of Aarhus, as well as at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He became deeply engaged with Archaea soon after their initial discovery, through a shared interest (with Professor Carl Woese) in 16S ribosomal RNA structure and function, and he has since made significant and diverse contributions to the molecular biology and genomics of the Archaea.

Hans-Peter Klenk teaches microbial genomics at Darmstadt Technical University and is the founder and general manager of e.gene Biotechnologie, located in the Munich area. He has more than 25 years of experience in Archaea research, starting with the molecular biology and evolution of the archaeal transcription apparatus (with Professor Wolfram Zillig), and later pioneering archaeal genomics in various positions at Dalhousie University, Halifax (Canada), The Institute for Genomics Research, Rockville (USA), and the University of Goettingen (Germany). He has coorganized more than 25 national and international meetings, including Archaea – The First Generation in 2005.

List of Contributors.

Preface.

1. The Birth of the Archaea: A Personal Retrospective: Carl R. Woese (University of Illinois).

2. Natural History of the Archaeal Domain: Patrick Forterre (Institut Pasteur), Simonetta Gribaldo (Institut Pasteur) and Celine Brochier-Armanet (Université Aix-Marseille I).

3. The Root of the Tree: Lateral Gene Transfer and the Nature of The Domains: David A. Walsh (Dalhousie University), Mary Ellen Boudreau (Dalhousie University), Eric Bapteste (Dalhousie University) and W. Ford Doolittle (Dalhousie University).

4. Diversity of Uncultivated Archaea: Perspectives from Microbial Ecology and Metagenomics: Christa Schleper (University of Bergen).

5. Nanoarchaeota: Harald Huber (University of Regensburg) and Reinhard Rachel (University of Regensburg).

6. Families of DNA Viruses Infecting Hyperthermophilic Crenarchaea: David Prangishvili (Institut Pasteur).

7. Features of the Genomes: Hans-Peter Klenk (e.gene Biotechnologie).

8. Sulfolobus Genomes: Mechanisms of Rearrangements and Change: Kim Brügger (Copenhagen University), Xu Peng (Copenhagen University) and Roger A. Garrett (Copenhagen University).

9. Plasmids: Georg Lipps (University of Bayreuth).

10. Integration Mechanisms: Possible Role in Genome Evolution: Qunxin She (Copenhagen University), Haojun Zhu (Copenhagen University) and Xiaoyu Xiang (Copenhagen University).

11. Genetics: Moshe Mevarech (Tel Aviv University) and Thorsten Allers (University of Nottingham).

12. Genetic Properties of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and Related Archaea: Dennis W. Grogan (University of Cincinnati).

13. Chromatin and Regulation: John N. Reeve (Ohio State University) and Kathleen Sandman (Ohio State University).

14. DNA Replication and the Cell Cycle: Victoria L. Marsh (Hutchison MRC Research Centre) and Stephen D. Bell (Hutchison MRC Research Centre).

15. DNA Repair: Malcolm F. White (University of St Andrews).

16. Transcriptional Mechanisms: Michael Thomm (University of Regensburg) and Winfried Hausner (University of Regensburg).

17. Transcriptional Regulation in Haloarchaea: Felicitas Pfeifer (Darmstadt University of Technology), Torsten Hechler (Darmstadt University of Technology), Sandra Scheuch (Darmstadt University of Technology) and Simone Sartorius-Neef (Darmstadt University of Technology).

18. Aminoacyl-tRNAs: Deciphering and Defining the Genetic Message: Alexandre Ambrogelly (Yale University), Juan Carlos Salazar (Yale University), Kelly Sheppard (Yale University), Carla Polycarpo (Yale University), Hiroyuki Oshikane (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Yuko Nakamura (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Shuya Fukai (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Osamu Nureki (Tokyo Institute of Technology) and Dieter Söll (Yale University).

19. Translational Mechanisms and Protein Synthesis: Paola Londei (Università degli studi di Bari).

20. Expanding World of Small Non-coding RNAs: Arina Omer (University of British Columbia), Maria Zago (University of British Columbia) and Patrick P. Dennis (National Science Foundation).

21. Transcriptomics, Proteomics and Structural Genomics of Pyrococcus furiosus: Michael W. W. Adams (University of Georgia), Francis E. Jenney Jr (University of Georgia), Chung-Jung Chou (North Carolina State University), Scott Hamilton-Brehm (University of Georgia), Farris L. Poole II (University of Georgia), Keith R. Shockley (North Carolina State University), Sabrina Tachdjian (North Carolina State University) and Robert M. Kelly (North Carolina State University).

22. The Glycolytic Pathways of Archaea: Evolution by Tinkering: John van der Oost (Wageningen University) and Bettina Siebers (University Duisberg-Essen).

23. Metabolism of Inorganic Sulfur Compounds: Arnulf Kletzin (Darmstadt University of Technology).

24. Methyl-Coenzyme M Reductase in Methanogens and Methanotrophs: Rudolf K. Thauer (Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology) and Seigo Shima (Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology).

25. Methylation of Metal(loid)s by Methanoarchaea: Production of Volatile Derivatives with High Ecotoxicological Impact and Health Concern: Klaus Michalke (University Duisberg-Essen), Jörg Meyer (University Duisberg-Essen) and Reinhard Hensel (University Duisberg-Essen).

26. Biotechnology: Ksenia Egorova (Hamburg University of Technology) and Garabed Antranikian (Hamburg University of Technology).

Wolfram Zillig.

References.

Index