Mechanism interactions and function of the structure specific nuclease XPF

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The archaea are a group of microbes, often found in extreme environments such as volcanic pools and salt pans. With the advent of DNA sequencing, it was recognised that the archaea are not closely related to bacteria such as the ones that make us sick, but rather are more similar to the eukarya (organisms with a nucleus), such as yeast, worms and humans. This relationship is reflected in similarities between the archaea and eukarya in the machinery that makes copies of the genetic material and transfers information (the information processing pathways). For this reason archaea have been studied as a useful model system, but they are also important and interesting in their own right, as they make up a big proportion of the living world. There is still a lot we don't know about information processing in the archaea. We have studied these pathways in archaea for the last 7 years and have discovered and characterised a lot of new proteins. We have been studying the archaeal nuclease XPF (a protein that cuts DNA strands) that is similar to a human protein important for repair of DNA damage. We know the structure of the protein and we wish to carry out studies of its structure, function, mechanism and interactions.