Imaging archaeal diversity at high-resolution by cryo-ET

Archaea occupy diverse habitats and exhibit varied metabolic and cellular adaptations, yet their structural cell diversity remains largely unexplored. Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) is ideal for imaging these non-model systems, but high-quality large-scale archaeal cryo-ET datasets are extremely scarce. Existing resources cover only a few species and offer limited value for structural cell biology. Here, we aim to systematically image and analyse phylogenetically diverse, culturable Archaea using optimized cryo-ET workflows to reveal known and novel cellular features. The resulting scalable Archaeal Cell Atlas will be a foundational resource for environmental microbiology and structural and evolutionary cell biology.

Objectives:

– Optimize sample preparation workflows for active archaeal cultures obtained from a collection.

– Collect cryo-ET data for selected phylogenetically diverse archaea.

– Build an active and expandable Atlas of archaeal cell architecture for local and external communities