A TFIIB paralog drives cyclic transcription to orchestrate the archaeal cell cycle

Abstract

Cyclic transcription is a hallmark of the cell cycle. While transcriptional waves in eukaryotes are driven by oscillations in cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) activity, many archaea have an ordered cell cycle despite lacking CDKs. Here in exploring how cyclic transcription is achieved in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, we show that TFB2, a paralog of eukaryotic TFIIB, is cyclically expressed, associated with the promoters of division genes (including tfb2 itself), contains a cyclin-box and is degraded as cells exit division. Furthermore, a dominant-negative TFB2 mutant interferes with division gene expression and cytokinesis. These data identify TFB2 as a central player in the circuitry orchestrating the orderly cell cycle in Sulfolobus and, despite the absence of CDKs, reveal parallels between the regulatory logic of archaeal cell division and eukaryotic mitosis.

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BibTeX

@misc{kuo2026tfiib,
  title = {{A TFIIB paralog drives cyclic transcription to orchestrate the archaeal cell cycle}},
  author = {Y.-W. Kuo and F. Blombach and F. Schult and B. Siebers and F. Werner and B. Baum},
  howpublished = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.09.06.749720},
  url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.06.749720v1},
  note = {CC BY-NC},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - A TFIIB paralog drives cyclic transcription to orchestrate the archaeal cell cycle
AU  - Y.-W. Kuo
AU  - F. Blombach
AU  - F. Schult
AU  - B. Siebers
AU  - F. Werner
AU  - B. Baum
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/06
PB  - bioRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.09.06.749720
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.06.749720v1
AB  - Cyclic transcription is a hallmark of the cell cycle. While transcriptional waves in eukaryotes are driven by oscillations in cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) activity, many archaea have an ordered cell cycle despite lacking CDKs. Here in exploring how cyclic transcription is achieved in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, we show that TFB2, a paralog of eukaryotic TFIIB, is cyclically expressed, associated with the promoters of division genes (including tfb2 itself), contains a cyclin-box and is degraded as cells exit division. Furthermore, a dominant-negative TFB2 mutant interferes with division gene expression and cytokinesis. These data identify TFB2 as a central player in the circuitry orchestrating the orderly cell cycle in Sulfolobus and, despite the absence of CDKs, reveal parallels between the regulatory logic of archaeal cell division and eukaryotic mitosis.
ER  -

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