PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Yunfeng Yang
AU  - Junfeng Liu
AU  - Xiaofei Fu
AU  - Fan Zhou
AU  - Shuo Zhang
AU  - Xuemei Zhang
AU  - Qihong Huang
AU  - Mart Krupovic
AU  - Qunxin She
AU  - Jinfeng Ni
AU  - Yulong Shen
TI  - A novel RHH family transcription factor aCcr1 and its viral homologs dictate cell cycle progression in archaea
AID  - 10.1101/2022.07.07.499082
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.07.07.499082
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/11/22/2022.07.07.499082.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/11/22/2022.07.07.499082.full
AB  - Cell cycle regulation is of paramount importance for all forms of life. Here we report that a conserved and essential cell cycle-specific transcription factor (designated as aCcr1) and its viral homologs control cell division in Sulfolobales. We show that the transcription level of accr1 reaches peak during active cell division (D-phase) subsequent to the expression of CdvA, an archaea-specific cell division protein. Cells over-expressing the 58-aa-long RHH (ribbon-helix-helix) family cellular transcription factor as well as the homologs encoded by large spindle-shaped viruses Acidianus two-tailed virus (ATV) and Sulfolobus monocaudavirus 3 (SMV3) display significant growth retardation and cell division failure, manifested as enlarged cells with multiple chromosomes. aCcr1 over-expression results in downregulation of 17 genes (>4-folds) including cdvA. A conserved motif, aCcr1-box, located between the TATA-binding box and the translation initiation site in the promoters of 13 out of the 17 highly repressed genes, is critical for aCcr1 binding. The aCcr1-box is present in the promoters of cdvA genes across Sulfolobales, suggesting that aCcr1-mediated cdvA repression is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism by which archaeal cells dictate cytokinesis progression, whereas their viruses take advantage of this mechanism to manipulate the host cell cycle.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.