Archaea

Also known as Archaebacteria, Archaeobacteria, Archaeans, Archaeon

Archaea ( ) is a domain of organisms. Traditionally, Archaea included only its prokaryotic members, but has since been found to be paraphyletic, as eukaryotes are known to have evolved from archaea. Even though the domain Archaea cladistically includes eukaryotes, the term archaea ( ; ) in English still generally refers specifically to prokaryotic members of Archaea.

AI overview

Archaea is a domain of single-celled organisms that were originally thought to be prokaryotes distinct from bacteria, though scientists have discovered that eukaryotes (including all animals, plants, and fungi) actually evolved from archaea. Today, the term "archaea" typically refers to the prokaryotic members of this group, even though technically eukaryotes are also part of the archaea domain from an evolutionary standpoint.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Species

古細菌ドメイン

Kingdom

Habitatmarine, brackish, freshwater

The existence of archaea in the oceans has been known for a long time. However, they were only discovered in the North Sea in the beginning of the 21st century. Archaea resemble normal bacteria, but are very different internally. They can live under extreme conditions: there are archaea known to live in boiling water! Archaea play an important role in the nitrogen cycle in the North Sea. These organisms are capable of changing ammonia into nitrite. One liter of seawater by Texel contains 5 to 45 million archaea. They are found particularly in the winter, when there is too little light for algae to grow.

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Research

40,662 papers

Archaea oxidizing alkanes through alkyl-coenzyme M reductases.ReviewCurrent opinion in microbiology · 2024Musat F, Kjeldsen KU, Rotaru AE et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2024.102486
DPANN archaea.ReviewCurrent biology : CB · 2025Huang WC, Spang ADOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.06.038
Archaea: current and potential biotechnological applications.ReviewResearch in microbiology · 2023Aparici-Carratalá D, Esclapez J, Bautista V et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.resmic.2023.104080
Archaea communities in aerobic granular sludge: A mini-review.ReviewThe Science of the total environment · 2024Yan A, Pan Z, Liang Y et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174974
Ammonia-oxidizing archaea in biological interactions.ReviewJournal of microbiology (Seoul, Korea) · 2021Kim JG, Gazi KS, Awala SI et al.DOI: 10.1007/s12275-021-1005-z
Archaea in the Human Microbiome and Potential Effects on Human Infectious Disease.ReviewEmerging infectious diseases · 2024Duller S, Moissl-Eichinger CDOI: 10.3201/eid3008.240181
Archaea influence composition of endoscopically visible ileocolonic biofilms.Gut microbes · 2024Orgler E, Baumgartner M, Duller S et al.DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2024.2359500
Diversity of Archaea.ReviewProgress in molecular and subcellular biology · 2026Kimiran A, Çağ MM, Doğruöz Güngör NDOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-11438-9_3

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Wikidata facts

Image: Archaea.png

Show 6 more facts

taxon name: Archaea
Commons category: Archaea
taxon common name: ആർക്കീയ
start time: 3500000000
LPSN URL: lpsn.dsmz.de/domain/archaea
NCI Thesaurus ID: C61092

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~57 min read

Article

39 sections

Contents

Discovery and classification
Early concept
Classification
Phylogeny
Concept of species
Prokaryotic phyla
Valid phyla
Candidate phyla
Origin and evolution
Comparison with other domains
Relationship to bacteria
Relation to eukaryotes
Morphology
Structure, composition development, and operation
Cell wall and archaella
Membranes
Metabolism
Genetics
Horizontal gene transfer and genetic exchange
Archaeal viruses
Reproduction
Behavior
Communication
Biofilms
Ecology
Habitats
Role in chemical cycling
Interactions with other organisms
Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism
Significance in technology and industry
See also
References
Further reading
External links
General
Classification
Genomics

Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria (, in the Archaebacteria kingdom), but this term has fallen out of use. Archaeal cells have unique properties distinguishing them from Bacteria and Eukaryota, including: cell membranes made of ether-linked lipids; metabolisms such as methanogenesis; and a unique motility structure known as an archaellum. Archaea are further divided into multiple recognized phyla. Classification is difficult because most have not been isolated in a laboratory and have been identified only by their gene sequences in environmental samples. It is unknown whether they can produce endospores.