Showing papers by "Stephen D. Bell published in 2010"
TL;DR: A comparative genomic analysis of the machineries for cell division and vesicle formation in Archaea suggests that the last common ancestor of the extant Archaea possessed a complex membrane remodelling apparatus, different components of which were lost during subsequent evolution of archaeal lineages.
Abstract: In this Analysis article, Makarova and colleagues provide an overview of the cell division and membrane budding systems of the Archaea. They show that at least four different systems regulate these processes, providing insight into the evolutionary history of archaeal and eukaryotic cells.
212 citations
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: Despite the organisational similarity between bacterial and archaeal subcellular features,archaeal nucleoid-associated proteins have intriguing parallels with the proteins that shape eukaryotic chromatin.
Abstract: In the light microscope, archaea resemble bacteria, in that they are small, generally single-celled organisms devoid of overt subcellular organization. Their genomes (which range in size from 0.5 to ∼6 Mb) are found in condensed nucleoid structures, rather than within nuclei and so the archaea can be broadly classified as “prokaryotes”. As in bacteria, a complex variety of proteins appear to play roles in compacting archaeal nucleoid structures. However, despite the organisational similarity between bacterial and archaeal subcellular features, archaeal nucleoid-associated proteins have intriguing parallels with the proteins that shape eukaryotic chromatin. These similarities manifest themselves both at the physical level, in the form of the structural orthology of some eukaryotic and archaeal histone proteins, and at the conceptual level, in the role of covalent modifications in modulating the DNA binding mode of archaeal chromatin proteins.
14 citations