Colin and Sabines publication on H. gibbonsii LR2-5 is now published in Frontiers in Microbiology. Check it out here
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
Publication about the role of archaeal MinD now online
The joint publication with the Albers and Duggin labs on the role of archaeal MinD in motility is now officially published in Current Biology.
Paper about the archaeal switch complex now online
The recent paper from Zhengqun is now online at Molecular Microbiology. In this paper we show that ArlCDE are important to transfer signals from the chemotaxis system to the archaeal motility structure. Read more here.
Colin joined our group
Colin Tittes has joined the archaeal virus group as a PhD student at the beginning of November.
Sabine joined the lab!
Sabine started this week as a PhD student in the lab. She will be involved in the development of a model virus-host system for haloarchaea
New publication in Mbio
Check out our latest publication in collaboration with the Albers lab on positioning of the archaeal motility machinery.
Li Z, Kinosita Y, Rodriguez-Franco M, Nußbaum P, Braun F, Delpech F, Quax T.E.F.*, Albers SV*. (2019) Positioning of the Motility Machinery in Halophilic Archaea. Mbio 10(3). pii: e00377-19
Emmy Noether funding awarded
Tessa received the official confirmation that she can start a research group on archaeal viruses in Freiburg with the help of an Emmy Noether grant from the german science foundation DFG!
Post-doc position available
We are looking for a talented post-doc to study infection mechanisms of archaeal viruses. More more information check out the job description.
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.