Overview of the genetic tools in the Archaea
- 1Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan
- 2JST, CREST, Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- 3Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Noji-Higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan
- 4Department of Bioengineering, Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Japan
This section provides an overview of the genetic systems developed in the Archaea. Genetic manipulation is possible in many members of the halophiles, methanogens, Sulfolobus, and Thermococcales. We describe the selection/counterselection principles utilized in each of these groups, which consist of antibiotics and their resistance markers, and auxotrophic host strains and complementary markers. The latter strategy utilizes techniques similar to those developed in yeast. However, Archaea are resistant to many of the antibiotics routinely used for selection in the Bacteria, and a number of strategies specific to the Archaea have been developed. In addition, examples utilizing the genetic systems developed for each group will be briefly described.
Keywords: Archaea, gene disruption, shuttle vectors, genetics, halophiles, methanogens, Sulfolobus, Thermococcales
Citation: Atomi H, Imanaka T and Fukui T (2012) Overview of the genetic tools in the Archaea. Front. Microbio. 3:337. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2012.00337
Received: 13 May 2012; Paper pending published: 05 June 2012;
Accepted: 01 September 2012; Published online: 02 October 2012.
Edited by:
Frank T. Robb, Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, USA
Copyright © 2012 Atomi, Imanaka and Fukui. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and subject to any copyright notices concerning any third-party graphics etc.
*Correspondence: Haruyuki Atomi, Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan. e-mail: atomi@sbchem.kyoto-u.ac.jp