Transcriptional landscape of the cell cycle in a model thermoacidophilic archaeon reveals similarities to eukaryotes

Similar to many eukaryotes, the thermoacidophilic archaeon Saccharolobus islandicus follows a defined cell cycle program, with two growth phases, G1 and G2, interspersed by a chromosome replication phase (S), and followed by genome segregation and cytokinesis (M-D) phases. To study whether and which other processes are cell cycle-coordinated, we synchronized cultures of S. islandicus and performed an in-depth transcriptomic analysis of samples enriched in cells undergoing the M-G1, S, and G2 phases, providing a holistic view of the S. islandicus cell cycle. We show that diverse metabolic pathways, protein synthesis, cell motility and even antiviral defense systems, are expressed in a cell cycle-dependent fashion. Moreover, application of a transcriptome deconvolution method defined sets of phase-specific signature genes, whose peaks of expression roughly matched those of yeast homologs. Collectively, our data elucidates the complexity of the S. islandicus cell cycle, suggesting that it more closely resembles the cell cycle of certain eukaryotes than previously appreciated.