Archaea, along with bacteria and eukaryotes, constitute a new phylum of life. These microorganisms are unique in their cellular and molecular aspects. They share evolutionary links with the first eukaryotic cells and are now being used to clarify fundamental biological questions.
Archaea, the champions of extremophiles, are helping to unravel the limitations of life on Earth. Archaeal Biology 2 presents the diverse molecular mechanisms involved in the fundamental processes of genome maintenance and gene expression regulation in archaeal cells.
This book analyzes the complex machinery involved in chromosome replication, DNA repair, RNA synthesis (transcription), and protein synthesis (translation), and reviews the different classes of RNAs and the enzymes involved in RNA maturation and degradation. These RNAs regulate the stability of messenger and regulatory noncoding RNAs and are involved in the formation of mature forms of ribosomal RNAs and transfer RNAs. These molecular mechanisms are closely related to those in eukaryotes.
