Welcome

In the Quax group we are interested in interactions between archaea and their viruses. Archaea are ubiquitous microorganisms that form a separate domain of life. They can colonize very different environments ranging from the human gut and the world oceans to hydrothermal vents and hyper saline lakes. Compared with bacteria and eukaryotes, relatively little is known about the cell biology and ecological roles of archaea. A prominent feature of archaea is the extraordinary diversity of their viruses. Archaeal viral particles have many unique shapes not encountered for bacterial and eukaryotic viruses, such as a spindle, a spiral or a bottle. Viruses are estimated to outnumber their hosts at least by a factor ten, and therefore form a serious threat for archaeal cells. Archaeal viruses are important players in deep-sea ecosystems and biochemical cycles, as they are responsible for the cell-lysis induced release of considerable amounts of CO2. We focus on the infection strategies of archaeal viruses and study the molecular mechanisms underlying essential steps of the viral infection cycle, such as attachment, entry and release of the host cell. Since these processes take place at the cell surface, we are also actively studying the archaeal cell surface and surface appendages using the halophilic euryarchaeon Haloferax volcanii as a model. Studying the infection mechanisms of archaeal viruses can provide insight into the evolutionary history of viruses and help to understand adaptation to extreme environments.

Beijerinck Premie for Tessa

On March 3, Tessa received the Beijerinck Premie 2022 for her research on archaeal viruses. The Beijerinck Premie is awarded each year by the The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences to an early career researcher who performs excellent research in the field of Virology.

ERC grant to study archaeal viruses

Starting Grants | ERC: European Research Council

We are thrilled with the opportunity provided by the ERC starting grant that was awarded for our research on archaeal viruses. We will try to answer the question how archaeal viruses compete with each other for access to cellular resources. Thank you ERC! New job openings will follow this summer.

Lab moved to Groningen

The lab recently moved to the University of Groningen (RUG) in the Netherlands, where we found an exiting new environment for our research on archaeal viruses at the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences & Biotechnology Institute. You can find us at the Linnaeusborg at the Zernike Campus.

Two new papers by the lab published

Two new papers of the lab were published this week:

Schwarzer S, Rodriguez-Franco M, Oksanen H.M., Quax T.E.F. (2021) Growth phase dependent cell shape of Haloarcula. Microorganisms. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/2/231

And a review paper on how viruses use filamentous surface structures of bacteria and archaea was published in ‘Viruses’

Tittes C, Schwarzer S, Quax T.E.F. (2021) Viral hijack of filamentous surface structures in Archaea and Bacteria. Viruses. https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/2/164