Laboratory of Molecular Cloning, Centre Bioengineering, Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. 60-let Oktyabrya 7-1, 117312 Moscow, Russia.
Biochemistry (Mosc). 2012 Aug;77(8):799-812. doi: 10.1134/S0006297912080019.
Since the definition of archaea as a separate domain of life along with bacteria and eukaryotes, they have become one of the most interesting objects of modern microbiology, molecular biology, and biochemistry. Sequencing and analysis of archaeal genomes were especially important for studies on archaea because of a limited availability of genetic tools for the majority of these microorganisms and problems associated with their cultivation. Fifteen years since the publication of the first genome of an archaeon, more than one hundred complete genome sequences of representatives of different phylogenetic groups have been determined. Analysis of these genomes has expanded our knowledge of biology of archaea, their diversity and evolution, and allowed identification and characterization of new deep phylogenetic lineages of archaea. The development of genome technologies has allowed sequencing the genomes of uncultivated archaea directly from enrichment cultures, metagenomic samples, and even from single cells. Insights have been gained into the evolution of key biochemical processes in archaea, such as cell division and DNA replication, the role of horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of archaea, and new relationships between archaea and eukaryotes have been revealed.
自从古菌被定义为与细菌和真核生物并列的生命领域以来，它们已经成为现代微生物学、分子生物学和生物化学最有趣的研究对象之一。由于大多数古菌缺乏遗传工具，并且与它们的培养相关的问题，因此对古菌基因组的测序和分析尤为重要。自第一个古菌基因组发表以来的十五年间，已经确定了代表不同系统发育群的一百多个完整基因组序列。对这些基因组的分析扩展了我们对古菌生物学、多样性和进化的认识，并允许鉴定和表征新的古菌深层系统发育谱系。基因组技术的发展使得可以直接从富集培养物、宏基因组样本甚至单个细胞中测序未培养古菌的基因组。人们深入了解了古菌中关键生化过程的进化，如细胞分裂和 DNA 复制，揭示了水平基因转移在古菌进化中的作用，以及古菌和真核生物之间的新关系。
