Candidatus Prometheoarchaeum

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Classification

A scanning electron microscopy image of Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum. (Hiroyuki Imachi, Masaru K. Nobu and JAMSTEC 2020)

Domain: Archaea

Kingdom: Proteoarchaeota

Superphylum: Asgard

Phylum: Lokiarchaeota

Genus: Candidatus

Species: Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum "Imachi et al. 2020"

Strain: MK-D1

Use NCBI link to find]

Species

NCBI: Taxonomy

Candidatus Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum strain MK-D1

Description and Significance

Describe the appearance, habitat, etc. of the organism, and why you think it is important.

Current data suggest that eukaryotes may have risen from the archaeal lineage known as "Asgard archaea" (Spang A. et al. 2015). Although a resemblance of eukaryote-like genomic features have been discovered in these archaea, the evolutionary transition from archaea to eukaryotes remains uncertain due to the lack of cultured representatives and corresponding physiological insights. Given the proposed eukaryote-like intracellular complexities for Asgard archaea, the MK-D1 isolate has no visible organelle-like structure. Morphological features of Candidatus Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum are of unique complexity; long and branching protrusions.

Genome Structure

Describe the size and content of the genome. How many chromosomes? Circular or linear? Other interesting features? What is known about its sequence?

Cell Structure, Metabolism and Life Cycle

Interesting features of cell structure; how it gains energy; what important molecules it produces.

Candidatus Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum’ strain MK-D1 is an anaerobic, extremely slow-growing, small coccus (around 550 nm in diameter) that degrades amino acids through syntrophy.

Ecology and Pathogenesis

Habitat; symbiosis; biogeochemical significance; contributions to environment.
If relevant, how does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.

References

Imachi H, Nobu MK, Nakahara N, et al. Isolation of an archaeon at the prokaryote-eukaryote interface. Nature. 2020;577(7791):519‐525. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1916-6

Spang, A. et al. Complex archaea that bridge the gap between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Nature 521, 173–179 (2015).

Author

Page authored by Jeremy Eugene Patrick, student of Prof. Jay Lennon at Indiana University.