Germany & UK: Cyclic di-AMP in Archaea

Cyclic nucleotides in archaea: Cyclic di‐AMP in the archaeon Haloferax volcanii and its putative role

Frank Braun, Laura Thomalla, Chris van der Does, Tessa E. F. Quax, Thorsten Allers, Volkhard Kaever, Sonja‐Verena Albers | Molecular Biology of Archaea, Institute of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, School of Life Sciences, Queen’s Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, Research Core Unit Metabolomics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany | 2019 | MicrobiologyOpen | DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.829

Cyclic di-adenylate monophosphate (c-di-AMP) is a cyclic nucleotide second messenger in bacteria that is involved in various cellular process and pathways, such as DNA integrity sensing, cell size control and cell wall homeostasis. Very little is known about cyclic nucleotide second messengers in Archaea. The study provided evidence for expression of the dacZ gene where it was shown to produce c-di-AMP in vivo in an archaeal species. Overexpression of the dacZ gene leads to cell death, showing the tight regulation required for c-di-AMP. The study demonstrated that c-di-AMP is involved in osmoregulation of cells in archaea.