title: Transposon Insertion Mutagenesis for Archaeal Gene Discovery.
abstract: Archaea constitute the third domain of life, but studies on their physiology and other features have lagged behind bacteria and eukarya, largely due to the challenging biology of archaea and concomitant difficulties in methods development. The use of genome-wide en masse insertion mutagenesis is one of the most efficient means to discover the genes behind various biological functions, and such a methodology is described in this chapter for a model archaeon Haloferax volcanii. The strategy successfully employs efficient in vitro transposition in combination with gene targeting in vivo via homologous recombination. The methodology is general and should be transferable to other archaeal species.
authors.affiliation: Helsinki University Central Hospital Laboratory Diagnostics, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Immunobiology, Research Programs Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Saija
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kiljunen
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Immunobiology, Research Programs Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Maria I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Pajunen
authors.affiliation: Division of Genetics and Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. harri.savilahti@utu.fi.
authors.forename: Harri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Savilahti
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics*; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000235:genetics; D019766:Genes, Archaeal / Q000235:genetics*; D019622:Haloferax volcanii / Q000235:genetics; D059765:Homologous Recombination / Q000235:genetics; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements
keywords: Gene discovery; Haloferax volcanii; Halophilic archaea; Insertion mutant library; MuA transposase