The prokaryotic immune system CRISPR/Cas (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated genes) adapts to foreign invaders by acquiring their short deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragments as spacers, which guide subsequent interference to foreign nucleic acids based on sequence matching. The adaptation mechanism avoiding acquiring 'self' DNA fragments is poorly unders...

Ribosomes are the universal cellular organelles catalyzing the sequential polymerization of amino acids according to the genetic blueprint, encoded in the mRNA. They are built of two subunits that associate for performing this task. The larger subunit creates the peptide bonds and provides the path along which the nascent protein chain emerges out of the ribosome. The smaller subunit has key ro...

Recent investigations have identified homologs of eukaryotic box C/D small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) in Archaea termed sRNAs. Archaeal homologs of the box C/D snoRNP core proteins fibrillarin and Nop56/58 have also been identified but a homolog for the eukaryotic 15.5kD snoRNP protein has not been described. Our sequence analysis of archaeal genomes reveals that the highly conserved ribosomal pr...

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-Cas system mediates adaptive immunity against foreign nucleic acids in prokaryotes. However, efficient adaptation of a native CRISPR to purified viruses has only been observed for the type II-A system from a Streptococcus thermophilus industry strain, and rarely reported for laboratory strains. Here, we provide a second nativ...

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is the endonuclease responsible for the removal of 5' leader sequences from tRNA precursors. The crystal structure of an archaeal RNase P protein, Ph1771p (residues 36-127) from hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 was determined at 2.0 A resolution by X-ray crystallography. The structure is composed of four helices (alpha1-alpha4) and a six-stranded ant...

Protein turnover is an essential process in living cells. The degradation of cytosolic polypeptides is mainly carried out by the proteasome, resulting in 7-9-amino acid long peptides. Further degradation is usually carried out by energy-independent proteases like the tricorn protease from Thermoplasma acidophilum. Recently, a novel tetrahedral-shaped dodecameric 480-kDa aminopeptidase complex (...

Until recently, extremely halophilic euryarchaeota were considered mostly as aerobic heterotrophs utilizing simple organic compounds as growth substrates. Almost nothing is known on the ability of these prokaryotes to utilize complex polysaccharides, such as cellulose, xylan, and chitin. Although few haloarchaeal cellulases and chitinases were recently characterized, the analysis of currently a...

Halovirus PH1 infects Haloarcula hispanica and was isolated from an Australian salt lake. The burst size in single-step growth conditions was 50-100 PFU/cell, but cell density did not decrease until well after the rise (4-6 hr p.i.), indicating that the virus could exit without cell lysis. Virions were round, 51 nm in diameter, displayed a layered capsid structure, and were sensitive to chlorof...