Archaea are widespread in marine sediments, but their occurrence and relationship with natural salinity gradients in estuarine sediments is not well understood. This study investigated the abundance and diversity of Archaea in sediments at three sites [Brightlingsea (BR), Alresford (AR) and Hythe (HY)] along the Colne Estuary, using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) of 16S rRNA genes, DNA hybri...

It is often assumed that eukarya originated from archaea. This view has been recently supported by phylogenetic analyses in which eukarya are nested within archaea. Here, I argue that these analyses are not reliable, and I critically discuss archaeal ancestor scenarios, as well as fusion scenarios for the origin of eukaryotes. Based on recognized evolutionary trends toward reduction in archaea ...

Archaea are widespread organisms colonizing almost every habitat on Earth. However, the molecular biology of archaea still remains relatively uncharacterized. RNA metabolism is a central cellular process, which has been extensively analyzed in both bacteria and eukarya. In contrast, analysis of RNA metabolism dynamic in archaea has been limited to date. To facilitate analysis of the RNA metabol...

Archaea are traditionally thought of as "extremophiles," but recent studies have shown that marine planktonic Archaea make up a surprisingly large percentage of ocean midwater microbial communities, up to 60% of the total prokaryotes. However, the basic physiology and contribution of Archaea to community microbial activity remain unknown. We have studied Archaea from 200-m depths of the northwe...

We report the genome sequence of Palaeococcus pacificus DY20341(T), isolated from a sediment sample collected from eastern Pacific Ocean hydrothermal fields, which is the first report of a complete genome for a Palaeococcus species. The genome sequence will help to better understand differentiation phylogenetic relationships and evolution of several Thermococcales species.

The first draft genome of Halostagnicola sp. A56, isolated from the Andaman Islands is reported here. The A56 genome comprises 3,178,490 bp in 26 contigs with a G+C content of 60.8%. The genome annotation revealed that A56 could have potential applications for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoate or bioplastics.

We report here the draft genome sequence of Pyrodictium occultum PL19(T), a marine hyperthermophilic archaeon. The genome provides insights into molecular and cellular adaptation mechanisms to life in extreme environments and the evolution of early organisms on Earth.

A survey of archaeal genomes for the presence of homologues of bacterial and eukaryotic chaperones reveals several interesting features. All archaea contain chaperonins, also known as Hsp60s (where Hsp is heat-shock protein). These are more similar to the type II chaperonins found in the eukaryotic cytosol than to the type I chaperonins found in bacteria, mitochondria and chloroplasts, although...

The Bacteria and Archaea from the meromictic Lake Pavin were analyzed in samples collected along a vertical profile in the anoxic monimolimnion and were compared to those in samples from the oxic mixolimnion. Nine targeted 16S rRNA oligonucleotide probes were used to assess the distribution of Bacteria and Archaea and to investigate the in situ occurrence of sulfate-reducing bacteria and methan...