A new family of ribosome hibernation factor in Archaea – HIBernAR

Ribosome hibernation is an essential adaptive process in both bacterial and eukaryotic organisms. This involves the temporary inactivation of ribosomes, which remains undocumented in Archaea. The sequestration of ribosomes into a translationally inactive state in response to environmental stressors facilitates energy conservation and protects ribosomes from damage. This mechanism is crucial for preserving ribosome integrity and enabling rapid protein synthesis upon the return of favorable conditions.
Dormant ribosomes interact with various hibernation factors in bacteria and eukaryotes. These factors function similarly by occupying the mRNA channel and tRNA binding sites. Nonetheless, the lack of homology between eukaryotic and bacterial hibernation factors suggests independent evolutionary paths in these domains of life.
Despite progress in understanding ribosome hibernation in bacteria and eukaryotes and the physiological importance of this process for stress tolerance, it is still unexplored in Archaea.
This project builds upon the discovery of the first ribosome hibernation factor in Archaea. This factor shows a unique structure composed of a bacterial-like ribosome inactivation domain fused to a universal cellular energy sensing domain. We aim to explore HIB cellular function by developing an integrative program by combining structural, biophysics, biochemistry, genetics, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic approaches.