Halofilins as emerging bactofilin families of archaeal cell shape plasticity orchestrators.

Bactofilins are rigid, nonpolar bacterial cytoskeletal filaments that link cellular processes to specific curvatures of the cytoplasmic membrane. Although homologs of bactofilins have been identified in archaea and eukaryotes, functional studies have remained confined to bacterial systems. Here, we characterize representatives of two families of archaeal bactofilins from the pleomorphic archaeon , halofilin A (HalA) and halofilin B (HalB).

A sweet new set of inducible and constitutive promoters in .

Inducible promoters are one of cellular and molecular biology's most important technical tools. The ability to deplete, replete, and overexpress genes on demand is the foundation of most functional studies. Here, we developed and characterized a new xylose-responsive promoter (Pxyl), the second inducible promoter system for the model haloarcheon .