title: Discovering novel biology by in silico archaeology.
abstract: Archaea are prokaryotes that evolved in parallel with bacteria. Since the discovery of the distinct status of the Archaea, extensive physiological and biochemical research has been conducted to elucidate the molecular basis of their remarkable lifestyle and their unique biology. Here, we discuss how in-depth comparative genomics has been used to improve the annotation of archaeal genomes. Combined with experimental verification, bioinformatic analysis contributes to the ongoing discovery of novel metabolic conversions and control mechanisms, and as such to a better understanding of the intriguing biology of the Archaea.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, 6703 CT Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Thijs J G
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Ettema
authors.forename: Willem M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: de Vos
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Oost
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D019295:Computational Biology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020745:Genome, Archaeal
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins