title: The archaeal cell envelope.
abstract: At first glance, archaea and bacteria look alike; however, the composition of the archaeal cell envelope is fundamentally different from the bacterial cell envelope. With just one exception, all archaea characterized to date have only a single membrane and most are covered by a paracrystalline protein layer. This Review discusses our current knowledge of the composition of the archaeal cell surface. We describe the wide range of cell wall polymers, O- and N-glycosylated extracellular proteins and other cell surface structures that archaea use to interact with their environment.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology of Archaea, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse 10, D-35043 Marburg, Germany. albers@mpi-marburg.mpg.de
authors.forename: Sonja-Verena
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Albers
authors.forename: Benjamin H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D022081:Cell Surface Extensions / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000737:chemistry; D006031:Glycosylation
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins