Hijack of surface structures by archaeal viruses
Final Report Abstract
All organisms on this planet can suffer from viral infections. Viruses infecting archaea, microorganisms that belong to a separate domain of life, display many different unique shapes. As the cell envelope of archaea is fundamentally different from that of bacteria and eukaryotes, viruses infecting them also use special mechanisms to infect the cell. In this project my team and I have focused on understanding how archaeal viruses recognize and bind host cells and infect them. We have developed microscopy and genetic tools to establish model virus-host systems to study infection mechanisms in detail. With this system, we could show that tailed an archaeal virus, that structurally resembles bacteriophages, uses a very different approach than most bacteriophages to recognize and bind the cells. It first binds with the head, flips around and then delivers the genome via the tail. This work indicates that archaeal viruses do employ unique mechanisms for entry, but on the other hand, also reveals common principles that are shared between the domains of life.
Publications
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An Oscillating MinD Protein Determines the Cellular Positioning of the Motility Machinery in Archaea. Current Biology, 30(24), 4956-4972.e4.
Nußbaum, Phillip; Ithurbide, Solenne; Walsh, James C.; Patro, Megha; Delpech, Floriane; Rodriguez-Franco, Marta; Curmi, Paul M.G.; Duggin, Iain G.; Quax, Tessa E.F. & Albers, Sonja-Verena
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The switch complex ArlCDE connects the chemotaxis system and the archaellum. Molecular Microbiology, 114(3), 468-479.
Li, Zhengqun; Rodriguez‐Franco, Marta; Albers, Sonja‐Verena & Quax, Tessa E. F.
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Cellular and Genomic Properties of Haloferax gibbonsii LR2-5, the Host of Euryarchaeal Virus HFTV1. Frontiers in Microbiology, 12.
Tittes, Colin; Schwarzer, Sabine; Pfeiffer, Friedhelm; Dyall-Smith, Mike; Rodriguez-Franco, Marta; Oksanen, Hanna M. & Quax, Tessa E. F.
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Growth Phase Dependent Cell Shape of Haloarcula. Microorganisms, 9(2), 231.
Schwarzer, Sabine; Rodriguez-Franco, Marta; Oksanen, Hanna M. & Quax, Tessa E. F.
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The biology of thermoacidophilic archaea from the order Sulfolobales. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 45(4).
Lewis, April M.; Recalde, Alejandra; Bräsen, Christopher; Counts, James A.; Nussbaum, Phillip; Bost, Jan; Schocke, Larissa; Shen, Lu; Willard, Daniel J.; Quax, Tessa E. F.; Peeters, Eveline; Siebers, Bettina; Albers, Sonja-Verena & Kelly, Robert M.
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Viral hijack of filamentous surface structures in Archaea and Bacteria. Viruses. 13(2):164
Tittes, C.; Schwarzer, S. & Quax T. E. F.
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Structural insights into the mechanism of archaellar rotational switching. Nature Communications, 13(1).
Altegoer, Florian; Quax, Tessa E. F.; Weiland, Paul; Nußbaum, Phillip; Giammarinaro, Pietro I.; Patro, Megha; Li, Zhengqun; Oesterhelt, Dieter; Grininger, Martin; Albers, Sonja-Verena & Bange, Gert
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Archaeal Host Cell Recognition and Viral Binding of HFTV1 to Its Haloferax Host. mBio, 14(1).
Schwarzer, Sabine; Hackl, Thomas; Oksanen, Hanna M. & Quax, Tessa E. F.
