Visual surfaceomics reveals the substrate-scavenging cell surface of Asgard archaea

Asgard archaeal cell bodies and protrusions lack an archaea-typical paracrystalline S-layer and are instead decorated by SubSs and OppAs, with OppA showing near-total membrane coverage.

• Why it matters: Eukaryote origins from Asgard ancestors likely required a specialized envelope for sustained interactions with proto-mitochondrial symbionts, but the molecular surface composition and contact-site remodeling were unknown.
• What they did: Using visual surfaceomics—subtomogram averaging, predictive structural modeling, transcriptomics, proteomics, and expansion microscopy—surface proteins were identified in situ, then OppA binding was tested by thermal shift assays and single-particle cryo-EM.
• The result: OppA binds oligopeptides in vitro, and comparative genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics suggest the peptidophilic surface architecture is conserved across Asgard archaeal phyla, with remodeling at cell-cell contact sites.

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