Microbiology 4.1.

1 Shape, Arrangement, and Size

Chapter 4
Archaeal Cell Structure Shapes
o Cocci and rods common; usually exist
Extremophiles lives in extreme singly
environments some cocci form clusters
o not all archaea are extremophiles some rods form chains
o not all extremophiles are archaea o Curved rods, spiral shapes, and
pleomorphic (many shaped)
chimeric natures: o no spirochete-like and mycelial
o some features are similar to bacteria: o unique shapes
cell structure look like the canonical branched form Thermoproteus
prokaryotic cell tenax
processes & molecules used to flat postage-stamp-shaped
conserve energy Haloquadratum walsbyi
o some features are similar to eukaryotes lives in salt ponds
molecules used to construct cell measures about 2 m by 2 to 4 m
structures often unique or similar to and only 0.25 m thick
those found in eukaryotes advantage of greatly increasing the
processes and molecules used to surface area-to-volume (S/V) ratio -
replicate and express genomes increases efficiency of nutrient
uptake, diffusion of molecules, and
growth rate

Sizes
o rods 1 to 2 m wide by 1.0 to 5.0 m
long
o cocci 1 to 3 m in diameter
o small archaea
free-living, acid loving
(acidophilic), mine-dwelling
microbes - 0.2 to 0.4 m in diameter
parasitic Nanoarchaeum equitans -
4.1 Typical Archaeal Cell 0.4m in diameter
o giant archaea - form long filaments up to
two phyla:
30 mm
o Crenarchaeota
filaments coated with a bacterial
o Euryarchaeota
biofilm (archaeon:host; bacteria:
Comparison of Bacterial and Archaeal Cells symbionts)
Property Bacteria Arhcaea composed of numerous cells each
Ester-linked 8 to 10 m wide by 20 to 24 m
Glycerol diethers form
Plasma phospholipids and
membran hopanoids form a
lipid bilayers; glycerol long
tetraethers form lipid
e lipids lipid bilayer; some
monolayers
have sterols
Very diverse but 4.1.2 Cell organization
peptidoglycan is always
Cell wall
constitue Peptidoglycan is present
absent: some consist of archaeal plasma membrane composed of
S-layer only, others
nts in nearly all; some strikingly different lipids than those found in
combine S-layer with
structu lack cell walls
polysaccharides or bacterial membranes
re
proteins or both; some archaeal cell walls lack peptidoglycan
lack cell walls Capsules not widespread
Inclusion
s
Yes, including gas Yes, including gas archaeal cytoplasm
vacuoles vacuoles o nucleoid
present
Ribosom
705 70S o ribosomes
e size
o inclusions can be found
Most are circular, double-
Chromos stranded (ds) DNA; All known are circular, flagella for locomotion
ome usually a single dsDNA
chromosome
Plasmids Yes; circular and linear
Yes; circular dsDNA
present dsDNA
External
Flagella, fimbriae (pili) Flagella, pili, and piluslike
structu
common structures common
res
Capsules
or
Common Rare
slime
layers
 lipids, the side chains are attached to carbons 2 and 3 of glycerol, and in bacterial
lipids, the side chains are attached to carbons 1 and 2. (b) Examples of archaeal
4.2 Archaeal Cell Envelopes lipids are lipids 1, 2, and 3. Lipids 4, 5, and 6 are bacterial lipids. Note that some
archaeal lipids can form monolayers (figure 4.5), whereas all bacterial lipids form
bilayers.
cell envelope - plasma membrane and any
layers external to it 2 major types of archaeal lipids:
o For bacteria plasma membrane + cell o (1) Glycerol diether lipids
walls, S-layers, capsules, and slime layers 2 hydrocarbons to glycerol
o For many archaea hydrocarbon chains 20 carbons in
S-layer - major, and sometimes only, length
component of the cell wall forms bilayer membranes
capsules and slime layers - relatively o (2) Diglycerol tetraether lipids
rare 2 glycerol residues to 2 long
hydrocarbons
archaeal plasma membrane hydrocarbon chains 40 carbons in
o presence of unique lipids - some archaea length
have monolayer membranes that function forms monolayer membranes with
like bilayers more rigidity
4.2.1 Archaeal Plasma Membranes and membranes of extreme thermophiles
Nutrient Uptake (Thermoplasma and Sulfolobus) - grow
best at temperatures over 85C
lipids in Archaeal Plasma Membranes - o Tetraethers are more rigid lipids than
differ from bacterial and eukaryotic lipids in diethers
two ways
o (1) contain hydrocarbons derived from
isoprene units
isoprene units - five-carbon,
branched molecules

Nutrient Uptake
o passive and facilitated diffusion
o primarily use active transport for nutrient
uptake
o (2) hydrocarbons are attached to primary (e.g., ABC transport) and
glycerol by ether links rather than ester secondary active transport
links o similar to those seen in bacteria
Ether linkages more resistant to group translocation systems
chemical attack and heat than are phosphoenol pyruvate: sugar
ester links phosphotransferase system
(PTS) not observed

4.2.2 Achaeal Cell Wall

lack peptidoglycan

S-layer most common type of archaeal cell

wall which is composed of either glycoprotein
or protein
o may be as thick as 20 to 40 nm
o present
some methanogens (Methanolobus
and Methanococcus)
salt-loving archaea (Halobacterium)
extreme thermophiles (Sulfolobus,
Thermoproteus, and Pyrodictium)

Figure 4.4 Comparison of Archaeal and Bacterial Membranes. (a) Archaeal

membrane lipids are attached to glycerol by ether linkages instead of ester
linkages, as found in bacteria and eukaryotes. The stereochemistry also differs. In
archaeal lipids, the stereo isomer of glycerol is sn-glycerol-1-phosphate; in
bacterial lipids, the stereoisomer is sn-glycerol-3-phosphate. Thus in archaeal
 outermost membrane contains protein
complexes that form pores - like
bacterial porin proteins create pores in
the outer membrane of typical Gram-
negative bacteria

4.3 Archaeal Cytoplasm

Archaeal Cytoplasm
o very similar to that of bacteria
o inclusions:
polyhydroxyalkonates
polyphosphate granules
glycogen granules
Figure 4.6 Archaeal Cell Envelopes. (a) Methanococcus, Halobacterium,
gas vacuoles
Pyrodictium, Sulfolobus, and Thermoproteus cell envelopes. (b) Methanospirillum o ribosomes
cell envelope. (c) Methanosarcina cell envelope. (d) Methanothermus and
Methanopyrus cell envelopes. (e) Methanobacterium, Methanosphaera, o nucleoid
Methanobrevibacter, Halococcus, and Natronococcus cell envelopes. For o plasmids - in some cases
Methanosphaera, the polysaccharide layer is composed of pseudomurein. (f)
lgnicoccus cell envelope. The outermost membrane contains protein complexes o Cytoskeletal proteins
that form pores. FtsZ (tubulin homologue) - participates
in cell division, as it does in bacteria
additional layers of material outside the S-
actin homologues - for conferring a
layer:
rod shape
o Methanospirillum (figure 4.6b) has a
MreB
protein sheath external to the S-layer
Crenactin unique to certain
o Methanosarcina (figure 4.6c) has a
members of the phylum
polysaccharide layer
Crenarchaeota
(methanochondroitin) covering the S-layer
Methanochondroitin - similar to the
chondroitin sulfate of animal 4.3.1 Ribosome
connective tissue
similarities to bacteria:
Pseudomurein (figure 4.6d) peptidoglycan- o 70S in size - constructed of a 50S and a
like molecule that separates S-layer from the 30S subunit
plasma membrane o ribosomal RNA (rRNA) molecules - same
o Differences from peptidoglycan: size
-amino acids instead of -amino 16S: small subunit
acids in its cross-links 23S and 5S: large subunit
N-acetyltalosaminuronic acid 1 archaeon has an additional
instead of N-acetylmuramic acid 5.8S rRNA
(13) glycosidic bonds instead of
(14) glycosidic bonds differences to bacteria:
o lysozyme, penicillin, and other chemicals o impervious to antibiotics that bind and
that affect bacterial cell wall structure and inhibit bacterial ribosomes
synthesis have no effect on archaeal cell o shape
walls o component molecules
No S-layer (figure 4.6e) o nucleotide sequences of rRNA molecules
o consists of a single, thick homogeneous o protein composition
layer resembling that in Gram-positive Archaeal ribosomes - more proteins:
bacteria about 68 rather than about 55
o often stain Gram positive 3 groups of Archaeal ribosomal
o usually consists of complex proteins
polysaccharides such as pseudomurein those observed in all three
domains of life
No cell wall (figure 4.6f) those unique to archaea only 2
o acidophilic genera Ferroplasma and those observed in both archaea &
Thermoplasma envelopes consisting only eukaryotes
of a plasma membrane covered by a
layer of slime 4.3.2 Nucleiod
glycocalyx (slime) may provide
some of the protection needed to nucleoid - irregularly shaped region in the
survive in acidic habitats cytoplasm
o Ignicoccus hospitalis o different between archaea and bacteria
plasma membrane + an outermost o contains the cell's chromosome and
membrane with an intermembrane numerous proteins
compartment between
 chromosomes of all known archaea - circular,
double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
o polyploid (some archaea) - have multiple
copies of chromosomes throughout the life
cycles
o longer than the length of the cell and must
be compacted to fit in the cell
HU protein in bacteria - important in
compacting the chromosome
HU protein homologue in archaea
Alba protein (in phylum
Crenarchaeota)
o In phylum Euryarchaeota
have histones associated with their
chromosome
histones form nucleosomes that
are similar to the nucleosomes
observed in eukaryotes
o Like bacteria and eukaryotes
archaea also employ condensins
to further compact their
chromosomes so that they
segregate properly during cell
division
4.4 External Structures
4.4.1 Pili, Cannulae, and Hami
Pili
o Composition: pilin proteins (in some)
homologues of bacterial type IV pili
proteins
presence of a central lumen
observed in bacterial flagella but not in
bacterial type IV pili
o Function: attachment to surfaces (in some)
Cannulae and Hami (unique to Archaea)
o Cannulae - hollow, tubelike structures
observed on the surface of thermophilic
archaea (genus Pyrodictium)
Connects the daughter cells arising
from a single round of cell division
o Hami - look like tiny grappling hooks,
which suggests they might function to
attach cells to surfaces
Produced by members of biofilm
communities generally consisting of a
hami-producing archaean and a
bacterium
4.4.2 Archaeal Flagella and Motility
Archaeal flagella superficially similar to
their bacterial counterparts except that
o thinner - 10 to 13 nm rather than 20 nm
o composed of more than one type of
flagellin subunit
o not hollow
o Archaeal hooks - difficult to distinguish
from the filament and longer than bacterial
hooks
o basal body has not been identified
presence of knoblike structure at the
end embedded in the cell
o proteins similar to the proteins in
bacterial type IV pili
increases in length as flagellin subunits
are added at the base of the filament
rather than the tip
o archaeal flagella work in a manner similar
to bacterial flagella: rotation propels the
cell
differences:
flagellar rotation is powered by
ATP hydrolysis rather than by
proton motive force
when the direction of rotation
switches, it causes the cell to move
in either the forward or reverse
direction, just as is seen for some
bacteria having polar flagella
alternation between runs and
tumbles has not been observed
Halobacterium salinarum flagellar
movement
o clockwise rotation push forward
o counterclockwise rotation pulls the cell
(i.e., the flagella are in front of the cell as it
moves).
o H. salinarum exhibits both chemotaxis and
phototaxis
Phototaxis used to position the
archaeon properly to absorb light when
carrying out rhodopsin-based
phototrophy.
machinery controlling chemotaxis and
phototaxis in H. salinarum
homologous to that found in bacterial
systems
4.5 Comparison of Bacteria and Archaea
 cell envelopes o compacted using similar mechanisms
o Plasma membranes some archaea have histones that form
Bacterial: contain lipids built by nucleosomes similar to those observed
attaching fatty acids to glycerol by in eukaryotic chromosomes
ester linkages
bilayers cell structure
Archaeal: link isoprenoid o archaea also differ from bacteria in their
hydrocarbons to glycerol by ether metabolic capabilities and gene expression
bonds
monolayers or bilayers
o cell walls
Bacterial: peptidoglycan
Archaeal: S-layers

Ribosomes same size but differ at the

molecular level
o rRNA molecules similar size, but the
nucleotide sequences are distinguishable
ribosomes of at least one archaean
have an additional rRNA that is not
observed in bacterial ribosomes
o ribosomal proteins
few are unique to archaea
the rest either have homologues in
eukaryotic ribosomes or have
homologues in both bacterial and
eukaryotic ribosomes

chromosomes both composed of double-

stranded, circular DNA