Identification of structural and regulatory cell-shape determinants in Haloferax volcanii

<p>Archaea are key players in various processes, yet little is known about their cell biology, including&nbsp;cell-shape determination. <em>Haloferax volcanii</em> is a haloarchaeon that can form both rod- and disk-shaped cells, depending on growth conditions. In this study, we used proteomics, genetics, and live-cell imaging to identify mutants that are defective in rod or disk formation. Diverse proteins were implicated&nbsp;to be important for cell-shape determination, including predicted transporters, transducers, signaling molecules, and transcriptional regulators. We identified and phenotypically characterized two deletion strains, strains missing rod-determining factor A (RdfA) and disk-determining factor A (DdfA), which are required for rod and disk formation, respectively. We also identified an actin homolog, volactin, which we&nbsp;characterized with live-cell imaging and determined to be dynamic and&nbsp;important for disk-shape determination.<br><br>This Zenodo project includes the CellProfiler pipeline (.cpproj file) used for analyzing and quantifying cell-shape images. Additionally, the cell-shape images taken during the proteomics sample collection (comparing H53, ∆<em>rdfA</em>, and ∆<em>ddfA </em>at early- and late-log growth phases) are provided. This project also includes whole genome sequencing Illumina files for H53, ∆<em>rdfA</em>, ∆<em>sph3</em>, ∆<em>ddfA</em>, JK3, and JK5.<br><br>These data accompany:<br>Schiller, H., Hong, Y., Kouassi, J., Rados, T., Kwak, J., DiLucido, A., Safer, D., Marchfelder, A., Pfeiffer, F., Bisson, A., Schulze, S., and Pohlschroder, M. 2024. Identification of structural and regulatory cell-shape determinants in Haloferax volcanii. Nat Commun 15(1):1414. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45196-0.</p>