The Archaeal Signal Recognition Particle: Steps Toward Membrane Binding

Signal recognition particles and their receptors target ribosome nascent chain complexes of preproteins toward the protein translocation apparatus of the cell. The discovery of essential SRP components in the third urkingdom of the phylogenetic tree, the archaea (Woese, C. R., and Fox, G. E. (1977). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 5088-5090) raises questions concerning the structure and composition of the archaeal signal recognition particle as well as the functions that route nascent prepolypeptide chains to the membrane. Investigations of the archaeal SRP pathway could therefore identify novel aspects of this process not previously reported or unique to archaea when compared with the respective eukaryal and bacterial systems.