While bacteriophages have been subject of extensive studies, information on viruses that target archaea is comparably limited, while especially little is known about non-extremophilic viruses in the highly abundant mesophilic environments and only a few of those archaeal viruses have been isolated so far.

The project in general addresses viral infection of Methanoarchaea. In the first part it aims to study and understand the interaction between Methanosarcina mazei and its recent isolated lytic virus Methanosarcina Spherical Virus (MetSV) on a molecular level. Overall, we will provide important insights into the infection cycle, e.g. the function of small proteins within the infection cycle particularly focusing on those predicted to have anti-CRISPR, and into virus encoded sRNAs and their functions during the infection cycle.

In a second part we aim to initiate studying methanoarchaeal viruses present in human gastrointestinal tracts to predict and in future also evaluate impacts of methanoarchaeal viruses on the human gut microbiome.