Tessa Quax Lab

Tessa Quax - Associate Professor (University of Groningen)

In the Quax lab we are interested in interactions between archaea and their viruses. Archaea are ubiquitous microorganisms that form a separate domain of life. They can colonize very different environments ranging from the human gut and the world oceans to hydrothermal vents and hyper saline lakes. A prominent feature of archaea is the extraordinary diversity of their viruses. Archaeal viral particles have many unique shapes not encountered for bacterial and eukaryotic viruses, such as a spindle, a spiral or a bottle. Viruses are estimated to outnumber their hosts at least by a factor ten, and therefore form a serious threat for archaeal cells. We focus on the infection strategies of archaeal viruses and study the molecular mechanisms underlying essential steps of the viral infection cycle, such as attachment, entry and release of the host cell. Since these processes take place at the cell surface, we are also actively studying the archaeal cell surface and surface appendages using different halophilic archaea as a models and developing genetic tools for these. Studying the infection mechanisms of archaeal viruses can provide insight into the evolutionary history of viruses and help to understand adaptation to extreme environments.

CONTACT

email: t.e.f.quax@rug.nl
Website: www.quaxlab.org