Phenotyping in the archaea: optimization of growth parameters and analysis of mutants of Haloferax volcanii.

A method to grow the halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii in microtiter plates has been optimized and now allows the parallel generation of very reproducible growth curves. The doubling time in a synthetic medium with glucose is around 6 h. The method was used to optimize glucose and casamino acid concentrations, to clarify carbon source usage and to analyze vitamin dependence.

Regulatory RNAs in Haloferax volcanii.

In organisms of all three domains of life, a plethora of sRNAs (small regulatory RNAs) exists in addition to the well-known RNAs such as rRNAs, tRNAs and mRNAs. Although sRNAs have been well studied in eukaryotes and in bacteria, the sRNA population in archaea has just recently been identified and only in a few archaeal species. In the present paper, we summarize our current knowledge about sRNAs and their function in the halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii.