Mechanisms involved in DNA repair and genome maintenance are essential for all organisms on Earth and have been studied intensively in bacteria and eukaryotes. Their analysis in extremely thermophilic archaea offers the opportunity to discover strategies for maintaining genome integrity of the relatively little explored third domain of life, thereby shedding light on the diversity and evolution of these central and important systems. These studies might also reveal special adaptations that are essential for life at high temperature. A number of investigations of the hyperthermophilic and acidophilic crenarchaeote Sulfolobus solfataricus have been performed in recent years. Mostly, the reactions to DNA damage caused by UV light have been analysed. Whole-genome transcriptomics have demonstrated that a UV-specific response in S. solfataricus does not involve the transcriptional induction of DNA-repair genes and it is therefore different from the well-known SOS response in bacteria. Nevertheless, the UV response in S. solfataricus is impressively complex and involves many different levels of action, some of which have been elucidated and shed light on novel strategies for DNA repair, while others involve proteins of unknown function whose actions in the cell remain to be elucidated. The present review summarizes and discusses recent investigations on the UV response of S. solfataricus on both the molecular biological and the cellular levels.
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February 2009
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Conference Article|
January 20 2009
Reactions to UV damage in the model archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus
Sabrina Fröls;
Sabrina Fröls
*Department of Genetics in Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A 1090 Vienna, Austria
†Center for Geobiology, University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
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Malcolm F. White;
Malcolm F. White
‡Center for Biomolecular Sciences, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews KY16 9ST, U.K.
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Christa Schleper
Christa Schleper
1
*Department of Genetics in Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A 1090 Vienna, Austria
†Center for Geobiology, University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (email christa.schleper@univie.ac.at).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
October 28 2008
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2009 Biochemical Society
2009
Biochem Soc Trans (2009) 37 (1): 36–41.
Article history
Received:
October 28 2008
Citation
Sabrina Fröls, Malcolm F. White, Christa Schleper; Reactions to UV damage in the model archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus. Biochem Soc Trans 1 February 2009; 37 (1): 36–41. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST0370036
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