Crossref journal-article
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (341)
Abstract

The hyperthermophile Nanoarchaeum equitans is an obligate symbiont growing in coculture with the crenarchaeon Ignicoccus . Ribosomal protein and rRNA-based phylogenies place its branching point early in the archaeal lineage, representing the new archaeal kingdom Nanoarchaeota. The N. equitans genome (490,885 base pairs) encodes the machinery for information processing and repair, but lacks genes for lipid, cofactor, amino acid, or nucleotide biosyntheses. It is the smallest microbial genome sequenced to date, and also one of the most compact, with 95% of the DNA predicted to encode proteins or stable RNAs. Its limited biosynthetic and catabolic capacity indicates that N. equitans ' symbiotic relationship to Ignicoccus is parasitic, making it the only known archaeal parasite. Unlike the small genomes of bacterial parasites that are undergoing reductive evolution, N. equitans has few pseudogenes or extensive regions of noncoding DNA. This organism represents a basal archaeal lineage and has a highly reduced genome.

Bibliography

Waters, E., Hohn, M. J., Ahel, I., Graham, D. E., Adams, M. D., Barnstead, M., Beeson, K. Y., Bibbs, L., Bolanos, R., Keller, M., Kretz, K., Lin, X., Mathur, E., Ni, J., Podar, M., Richardson, T., Sutton, G. G., Simon, M., Söll, D., … Noordewier, M. (2003). The genome of Nanoarchaeum equitans: Insights into early archaeal evolution and derived parasitism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(22), 12984–12988.

Authors 22
  1. Elizabeth Waters (first)
  2. Michael J. Hohn (additional)
  3. Ivan Ahel (additional)
  4. David E. Graham (additional)
  5. Mark D. Adams (additional)
  6. Mary Barnstead (additional)
  7. Karen Y. Beeson (additional)
  8. Lisa Bibbs (additional)
  9. Randall Bolanos (additional)
  10. Martin Keller (additional)
  11. Keith Kretz (additional)
  12. Xiaoying Lin (additional)
  13. Eric Mathur (additional)
  14. Jingwei Ni (additional)
  15. Mircea Podar (additional)
  16. Toby Richardson (additional)
  17. Granger G. Sutton (additional)
  18. Melvin Simon (additional)
  19. Dieter Söll (additional)
  20. Karl O. Stetter (additional)
  21. Jay M. Short (additional)
  22. Michiel Noordewier (additional)
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Dates
Type When
Created 21 years, 9 months ago (Oct. 29, 2003, 1:26 a.m.)
Deposited 3 years, 4 months ago (April 13, 2022, 3:42 a.m.)
Indexed 4 weeks ago (July 30, 2025, 11:03 a.m.)
Issued 21 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 17, 2003)
Published 21 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 17, 2003)
Published Online 21 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 17, 2003)
Published Print 21 years, 10 months ago (Oct. 28, 2003)
Funders 0

None

@article{Waters_2003, title={The genome of Nanoarchaeum equitans: Insights into early archaeal evolution and derived parasitism}, volume={100}, ISSN={1091-6490}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1735403100}, DOI={10.1073/pnas.1735403100}, number={22}, journal={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, publisher={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, author={Waters, Elizabeth and Hohn, Michael J. and Ahel, Ivan and Graham, David E. and Adams, Mark D. and Barnstead, Mary and Beeson, Karen Y. and Bibbs, Lisa and Bolanos, Randall and Keller, Martin and Kretz, Keith and Lin, Xiaoying and Mathur, Eric and Ni, Jingwei and Podar, Mircea and Richardson, Toby and Sutton, Granger G. and Simon, Melvin and Söll, Dieter and Stetter, Karl O. and Short, Jay M. and Noordewier, Michiel}, year={2003}, month=oct, pages={12984–12988} }