A Genetic Investigation of the KEOPS Complex in Halophilic Archaea

KEOPS is an important cellular complex conserved in Eukarya, with some subunits conserved in Archaea and Bacteria. This complex was recently found to play an essential role in formation of the tRNA modification threonylcarbamoyladenosine (t(6)A), and was previously associated with telomere length maintenance and transcription. KEOPS subunits are conserved in Archaea, especially in the Euryarchaea, where they had been studied in vitro. Here we attempted to delete the genes encoding the four conserved subunits of the KEOPS complex in the euryarchaeote Haloferax volcanii and study their phenotypes in vivo. The fused kae1-bud32 gene was shown to be essential as was cgi121, which is dispensable in yeast. In contrast, pcc1 (encoding the putative dimerizing unit of KEOPS) was not essential in H. volcanii. Deletion of pcc1 led to pleiotropic phenotypes, including decreased growth rate, reduced levels of t(6)A modification, and elevated levels of intracellular glycation products.