Archaea: Evolution, Physiology, and Molecular Biology

Introduced by Crafoord Prize winner Carl Woese, this volume combines reviews of the major developments in archaeal research over the past 10-15 years with more specialized articles dealing with important recent breakthroughs. Drawing on major themes presented at the June 2005 meeting held in Munich to honor the archaea pioneers Wolfram Zillig and Karl O. Stetter, the book provides a thorough survey of the field from its controversial beginnings to its ongoing expansion to include aspects of eukaryotic biology. The editors have assembled articles from the premier researchers in this rapidly burgeoning field, including an account by Carl Woese of his original discovery of the Archaea (until 1990 termed archaebacteria) and the initially mixed reactions of the scientific community. The review chapters and specialized articles address the emerging significance of the Archaea within a broader scientific and technological context, and include accounts of cutting-edge research developments. The book spans archaeal evolution, physiology, and molecular and cellular biology and is an essential reference for both graduate students and researchers.

List of Contributors. Preface. 1. The Birth of the Archaea: A Personal Retrospective: Carl R. Woese (University of Illinois). 2. Natural History of the Archaeal Domain: Patrick Forterre (Institut Pasteur), Simonetta Gribaldo (Institut Pasteur) and Celine Brochier-Armanet (Universit_ Aix-Marseille I). 3. The Root of the Tree: Lateral Gene Transfer and the Nature of The Domains: David A. Walsh (Dalhousie University), Mary Ellen Boudreau (Dalhousie University), Eric Bapteste (Dalhousie University) and W. Ford Doolittle (Dalhousie University). 4. Diversity of Uncultivated Archaea: Perspectives from Microbial Ecology and Metagenomics: Christa Schleper (University of Bergen). 5. Nanoarchaeota: Harald Huber (University of Regensburg) and Reinhard Rachel (University of Regensburg). 6. Families of DNA Viruses Infecting Hyperthermophilic Crenarchaea: David Prangishvili (Institut Pasteur). 7. Features of the Genomes: Hans-Peter Klenk (e.gene Biotechnologie). 8. Sulfolobus Genomes: Mechanisms of Rearrangements and Change: Kim Br8gger (Copenhagen University), Xu Peng (Copenhagen University) and Roger A. Garrett (Copenhagen University). 9. Plasmids: Georg Lipps (University of Bayreuth). 10. Integration Mechanisms: Possible Role in Genome Evolution: Qunxin She (Copenhagen University), Haojun Zhu (Copenhagen University) and Xiaoyu Xiang (Copenhagen University). 11. Genetics: Moshe Mevarech (Tel Aviv University) and Thorsten Allers (University of Nottingham). 12. Genetic Properties of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and Related Archaea: Dennis W. Grogan (University of Cincinnati). 13. Chromatin and Regulation: John N. Reeve (Ohio State University) and Kathleen Sandman (Ohio State University). 14. DNA Replication and the Cell Cycle: Victoria L. Marsh (Hutchison MRC Research Centre) and Stephen D. Bell (Hutchison MRC Research Centre). 15. DNA Repair: Malcolm F. White (University of St Andrews). 16. Transcriptional Mechanisms: Michael Thomm (University of Regensburg) and Winfried Hausner (University of Regensburg). 17. Transcriptional Regulation in Haloarchaea: Felicitas Pfeifer (Darmstadt University of Technology), Torsten Hechler (Darmstadt University of Technology), Sandra Scheuch (Darmstadt University of Technology) and Simone Sartorius-Neef (Darmstadt University of Technology). 18. Aminoacyl-tRNAs: Deciphering and Defining the Genetic Message: Alexandre Ambrogelly (Yale University), Juan Carlos Salazar (Yale University), Kelly Sheppard (Yale University), Carla Polycarpo (Yale University), Hiroyuki Oshikane (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Yuko Nakamura (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Shuya Fukai (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Osamu Nureki (Tokyo Institute of Technology) and Dieter S_ll (Yale University). 19. Translational Mechanisms and Protein Synthesis: Paola Londei (Universit¡ degli studi di Bari). 20. Expanding World of Small Non-coding RNAs: Arina Omer (University of British Columbia), Maria Zago (University of British Columbia) and Patrick P. Dennis (National Science Foundation). 21. Transcriptomics, Proteomics and Structural Genomics of Pyrococcus furiosus: Michael W. W. Adams (University of Georgia), Francis E. Jenney Jr (University of Georgia), Chung-Jung Chou (North Carolina State University), Scott Hamilton-Brehm (University of Georgia), Farris L. Poole II (University of Georgia), Keith R. Shockley (North Carolina State University), Sabrina Tachdjian (North Carolina State University) and Robert M. Kelly (North Carolina State University). 22. The Glycolytic Pathways of Archaea: Evolution by Tinkering: John van der Oost (Wageningen University) and Bettina Siebers (University Duisberg-Essen). 23. Metabolism of Inorganic Sulfur Compounds: Arnulf Kletzin (Darmstadt University of Technology). 24. Methyl-Coenzyme M Reductase in Methanogens and Methanotrophs: Rudolf K. Thauer (Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology) and Seigo Shima (Max-Planck-Institute for Terr