Regulation of de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis in hyperthermoacidophilic Archaea. (IWT455)

This project aims at the unraveling of the regulatory mechanisms that modulate the expression of the genes for de novo biosynthesis of pyrimidines in the hyperthermoacidophilic Archaea. Archaea constitute a separate domain of life, besides the Bacteria and the Eukarya. Archaea are true prokaryotes, just as the Bacteria. They share a number of characteristics ith the Bacteria such as the morphology and genome organization. On the other hand, the archaeal information processing machineries such as DNA replication, transcription and translation are more closely related with the eukaryotic homologues. Many characterized archaeal species are extremophiles, thus also the hyperthermoacidophiles that grow optimally at high temperature and low pH. These organism are interesting from both the fundamental and the applied viewpoint. The pyrimidine gene cluster of the Sulfolobales with its unique organization is an interesting model system for the study of both basal gene expression and pyrimidine-specific regulation.

Keywords:Applied Biology

Disciplines:Biological sciences