Lecturer:

LECTRER:
1. Prof. Dr. Ir. Sri Kumalaningsih M. App. Sc
2. Prof. Dr.Ir. Wignyanto, MS.
3. Dr.Ir. M. Hindun Pulungan, MS
4. Dr. Ir. Nur Hidayat, MP.
5. Ir. Irnia Nurika, MP.,PhD.
6. Sakunda Anggarini, STP, MSc

THE ARCHAEA

The Evolutionary Tree of Life

Evolution
The process of change over time that results in new
varieties and species of organisms
Phylogeny
Evolutionary relationships between organisms
Relationships can be deduced by comparing genetic
information in the different specimens
Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing method is
excellent for determining phylogeny
Relationships visualized on a phylogenetic tree

The Evolutionary Tree of Life

The Evolutionary Tree of Life

Comparative rRNA sequencing has defined
three distinct lineages of cells called domains:
Bacteria (prokaryotic)
Archaea (prokaryotic)
Eukarya (eukaryotic)
Archaea and Bacteria are NOT closely related
Archaea are more closely related to Eukarya
than Bacteria

The Evolutionary Tree of Life

Archaeaareprokaryoticcells

Archaea are prokaryotic cells.

Cytoplasmicmembrane:etherlinkedlipidstoglycerol
70Sribosomes,
16SrRNA.
Cellwallwithoutpeptidoglycan
histoneslikeproteinsassociatedwiththeDNA.

Notruenucleus(nucleoidinthecytoplasm)
Noorganelles.

Archaeaareunicellular

Archaealstructures

Archaealstructures:membranecomposition
Characteristics

Bacteria

Eukaryotic

Archaea

Protein content

High

Low

High

Lipid composition

Phospholipids

Phospholipids

Sulfolipids,
glycolipids, nonpolar
isoprenoid lipids,
phospholipids

Lipid structure

Straight chain

Branched

Straight chain

Lipid linkage

Ester linked

Ester linked

Ether linked (di&

tertaethers)

Sterols

Absent

Present

Absent

Archaealstructures:CellWall
No peptidoglycan
Typically no outer membrane
Pseudomurein
Polysaccharide similar to peptidoglycan
Composed of N-acetylglucosamine and Nacetyltalosaminuronic acid
Found in cell walls of certain methanogenic
Archaea
Cell walls of some Archaea lack pseudomurein

Archaealstructures:CellWall
Variable cell wall composition (some do not contain cell
walls, e.g.. Thermoplasma)
Methanobacterium sp.: glycans (sugars) & peptides
Methanosarcina sp. non-sulfated polysaccharides
Halococcus sp. sulfated polysaccharides
Halobacterium sp.
negatively charged acidic amino acids
counteract + charges of high Na+ in environment.
Cells lyses in NaCl concentrations < 15%.
Methanomicrobium sp. & Methanococcus sp. exclusively
made up of protein subunits.

Extremely Halophilic Archaea

Extremely halophilic Archaea require large
amounts of NaCl for growth.
These organisms accumulate high levels of KCl
in their cytoplasm as a compatible solute.
These salts affect cell wall stability and enzyme
activity.
The light-mediated proton pump
bacteriorhodopsin helps extreme halophiles
make ATP

Model for the mechanism of bacteriorhodopsin activity

Light near 570 nm converts the protonated retinal bacteriorhodopsin from the trans
form (RetT) to the cis form (RetC), along with translocation of a proton to the outer
surface of the membrane, thus establishing a proton motive force. ATPase activity is
driven by proton motive force.

Chlorophyll pigments
also synthesize ATP, a
light driven process

Extremely Halophilic Archaea

Found in salt flats and evaporation ponds.

Color these areas pinkish-red.
They can't live in salt concentrations below 10%!
Bright red carotenoid pigment protects the cells
from intense solar radiation.
Bacteriorhodopsin: use sunlight for energy.
Produce their own ATP using this pigment.
Directly produce ATP by chemiosmosis.

Extremely Halophilic Archaea

Extremely Halophilic Archaea

Methane-Producing Archaea: Methanogens

A large number of Euryarchaeota produce
methane (CH4) as an integral part of their energy
metabolism. Such organisms are called
methanogens.
Methanogenic Archaea are strictly anaerobic
prokaryotes.

Habitats of methanogenic Archaea

Characteristics of some methanogenic Archaea.

Substrates converted to methane by various methanogenic Archaea

Acetotrophic
substrates are those
that consume acetate

Hyperthermophilic Euryarchaeota
Thermococcales and Methanopyrus
A few euryarchaeotes thrive in thermal environments, and
some are hyperthermophiles. All organisms in this group
have growth temperature optima above 80C.
Thermococcus is a spherical hyperthermophilic
euryarchaeote indigenous to anoxic thermal waters in various
locations throughout the world.
Methanopyrus is a rod-shaped hyperthermophilic
methanogen isolated from sediments near submarine
hydrothermal vents and from the walls of "black smoker"
hydrothermal vent chimneys.

Hyperthermophilic Euryarchaeota
Thermococcales and Methanopyrus
Methanopyrus is unusual because it contains membrane
lipids found in no other known organism.
In the lipids of Archaea, the glycerol side chains contain
phytanyl rather than fatty acids bonded in ether linkage to
the glycerol.
In Methanopyrus, this ether-linked lipid is an unsaturated
form of the otherwise saturated dibiphytanyl tetraethers
found in other hyperthermophilic Archaea

Methanopyrus produces CH4 from CO2 and H2

Unsaturated phytanyl, Geranylgeraniol produced by Methanopyrus

for cell membranes

Hyperthermophilic Euryarchaeota
The Archaeoglobales
Archaeoglobus was isolated from hot marine sediments
near hydrothermal vents.
In its metabolism, Archaeoglobus couples the oxidation of
H2, lactate, pyruvate, glucose, or complex organic
compounds to the reduction of sulfate to sulfide.
Ferroglobus is related to Archaeoglobus but is not a sulfatereducing bacterium. Instead, Ferroglobus is an ironoxidizing chemolithotrophic autotroph, conserving energy
from the oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+ coupled to the reduction of
NO3 to NO2 plus NO

Hyperthermophiles from Terrestrial Volcanic Habitats

Sulfolobales and Thermoproteales

Two phylogenetically related organisms isolated from these
environments include Sulfolobus and Acidianus.
These genera form the heart of an order called the
Sulfolobales
Key genera within the Thermoproteales are Thermoproteus,
Thermofilum, and Pyrobaculum.

Hyperthermophiles from Submarine Volcanic Habitats

Desulfurococcales
Submarine volcanic habitats are homes to the most
thermophilic of all known Archaea. These habitats include
both shallow-water thermal springs and deep-sea
hydrothermal vents.
Pyrodictium and Pyrolobus are examples of prokaryotes
whose growth temperature optimum lies above 100C. The
optimum for Pyrodictium is 105C and for Pyrolobus is
106C.
Cells of Pyrodictium are irregularly disc-shaped and grow in
culture in a mycelium-like layer attached to crystals of
elemental sulfur.

Hyperthermophiles from Submarine Volcanic Habitats

Desulfurococcales
Other notable members of the Desulfurococcales
include Desulfurococcus and Ignicoccus.
Like Pyrodictium, Desulfurococcus is a strictly anaerobic
S0-reducing bacterium, but it differs from Pyrodictium in
that it is much less thermophilic, growing optimally at
about 85C.
Ignicoccus grows optimally at 90C, and its metabolism
is H2/S0 based.

Hyperthermophilic Archaea, H2, and Microbial Evolution

Why do so many Archaea seem to inhabit extreme
environments?
Extreme environments of various types existed on early
Earth just as they do today, and it is within such
environments that life may first have flourished.

At the time that cellular life evolved nearly 4 billion

years ago, it is almost certain that Earth was far hotter
than it is today and probably suitable only for
hyperthermophiles.

Hyperthermophilic Archaea, H2, and Microbial Evolution

If life originated on a hot planet Earth, as most

evolutionary scenarios predict, then
hyperthermophilic Archaea and Bacteria are likely
the closest living relatives to early life forms that
remain today.
Therefore the biology of these hyperthermophiles
is not only interesting but may offer us a window
into the past.
Hydrogen catabolism may have been the first
energy-yielding metabolism of cells

LECTRER:

Thank You