SPP 2330

GROUP SCHMITZ-STREIT / Project SCHM1052/26-2

Molecular insight into viral infection of Methanoarchaea and their respective viruses

Research on bacteriophages is extensive, but knowledge about viruses targeting archaea, especially non-extremophilic ones in mesophilic environments, is limited. This project focuses on viral infections of Methanoarchaea, aiming to bridge knowledge gaps by studying the interactions between M. mazei and MetSV, both genetically tractable, on molecular, mechanistic, and cellular levels. We will examine the virus replisome, the roles of viral and host proteins, and the host response to infection using genetical, imaging and biochemical approaches including structural analysis. Additionally, we aim to isolate novel methanoarchaeal viruses from a biogas reactor. Here our study builds on in-depth bioinformatics analysis of a comprehensive metagenomic dataset from a biogas reactor with a significant methanoarchaeal population. The biogas reactor was sampled over two years and metagenomic and metatranscriptomic datasets were generated. We aim to identify archaeal DNA and RNA viruses infecting methanoarchaeal hosts as well isolate specific viruses using the identified host for enrichments.

Figure 1: Genome organization and new annotation of MetSV. Apparent compartmentalization with potential small anti host defense proteins (left) and a structural region (including capsid, spike and envelope proteins). Zinc ribbon (CxxC….CxxC [ZnR]) and helix-turn-helix motiv (HTH) containing proteins were marked.

Principal Investigator(s)

Prof. Dr. Ruth A. Schmitz-Streit
Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel
Institute of General Microbiology

E-Mail: rschmitz@ifam.uni-kiel.de
Homepage: https://www.mikrobio.uni-kiel.de/de

Senior Postdoc

Dr. Katrin Weidenbach

Senior Postdoc

Cynthia Chibani

PhD student

Brian Barüske

Publications

  • Gehlert FO, Weidenbach K, Barüske B, Hallack D, Repnik U, Schmitz RA. Newly Established Genetic System for Functional Analysis of MetSV. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jul 6;24(13):11163. doi: 10.3390/ijms241311163. PMID: 37446343; PMCID: PMC10342651.
  • Weidenbach K, Nickel L, Neve H, Alkhnbashi OS, Künzel S, Krupczok A, Bauersachs T, Tholey A, Schmitz RA (2017) MSV, a novel archaeal lytic virus targeting Methanosarcina strains. Journal of Virology 2017 Sep 6. 91(22). pii: e00955-17. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00955-17.
  • Chibani CM, Mahnert A, Borrel G, Almeida A, Werner A, Brugère J-F, Gribaldo S, Finn RD, Schmitz RA, Moissl-Eichinger C (2020) A comprehensive analysis of the global human gut archaeome from a thousand genome catalogue. Nature micorbiuology 2022 2020.11.21.392621; doi: 10.1101/2020.11.21.392621