Synonym
Archaebacteria
Etymology
Archaea (singular: archaeon) are derived from Greek ἀρχαῖος – ancient, primitive.
The term was coined to reflect the apparent antiquity of traits in archaeal species and their aptness to inhabit environments like those presumed for early Earth.
Phylogeny
On the phylogenetic tree of organisms, Archaea form one of the three fundamental branches called domains (Woese et al., 1990). Further branching within the archaeal domain is largely based on ribosomal RNA sequences, but also relies on evidence from comparative analysis of protein sequences. Typical markers in archaeal phylogeny are ribosomal proteins, histones, and components of the transcription system and the cell division apparatus (Brochier-Armanet et al., 2011). In addition to the initially recognized phyla Crenarchaeota and...
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Rusch, A. (2016). Archaea. In: Kennish, M.J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Estuaries. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4_287
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