Regulated maturation and controlled degradation: the life cycle of RNAs in Haloferax volcanii

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anita Marchfelder
• Subject Area: Metabolism, Biochemistry and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 537539995

In this project, ribonucleases in the halophilic model archaeon Haloferax volcanii will be studied in detail. RNAs are produced in the cell as precursor molecules that must undergo a series of processing steps to produce the mature functional molecule. In addition, RNAs that have defects or are no longer needed must be removed. Ribonucleases are responsible and essential for these processes. In archaea, only a few ribonucleases have been studied so far, so very little is known about these processes and the studies in this project will provide new data on them. The experiments will be carried out in H. volcanii, as a variety of molecular biology tools are available for this archaeon and thus the studies can be carried out efficiently. The analysis of ribonucleases in this project will provide information on RNA maturation and degradation in H. volcanii and thus provide important new data on RNA metabolism in archaea.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants