Identification of metabolite RNA caps in Archaea

All living things can be divided into three major subgroups, namely the eukaryotes, the bacteria and the archaea. Of these groups, the archaea are less well studied, probably because they are hard to culture and only dominate in very harsh conditions, such as hot springs and salt lakes, however, they are universally present in all global habitats. The messenger RNA (mRNA) is the molecule used by all life to mobilize the information that is stored in the genome and use it to build cells and organisms. The mRNA ends are important in this process because they determine the stability of the mRNA and influence when information is used by the cell. In this project, we investigate how an Archaea living in hot springs protects it's mRNA ends by adding a protective molecule, also called an RNA cap.