Professor Jörg Soppa uses these prokaryotes (cells without a eukaryotic nucleus) for basic research with an emphasis on molecular genetic and biochemical approaches. He concentrates especially on halophilic archaea, which grow in extremely saline environments that are found around the world. His research team analyses the adaptation of haloarchaea to various environmental conditions by means of differential gene expression. The different signal transduction chains as well as specific metabolic and transport capacities that are induced in response to external stimuli are of particular interest. The experimental approaches include the parallel quantification of all transcripts of the cell to gain a genome-wide insight into gene expression programmes. The analysis of the molecular mechanism of translation initiation led to an unexpected discovery. In approximately one third of all transcripts, translation is initiated using a "novel mechanism", which is distinct from the four previously known initiation mechanisms. Soppa's current objectives are to clarify the molecular details of this novel mechanism, to analyze the mechanism of translational control and to characterize the biological functions of small, non-coding regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) in the haloarchaea.