‘ARMAN’ archaea depend on association with euryarchaeal host in culture and in situ

Abstract

In the absence of complete genomes, the metabolic capabilities of uncultured ARMAN-like archaea have been uncertain. Here, Golyshina et al. apply an enrichment culture technique and find that the ungapped genome of the ARMAN-like archaeon Mia14 has lost key metabolic pathways, suggesting dependence on the host archaeon Cuniculiplasma divulgatum.