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The word archaea comes from the Ancient Greek ἀρχαῖα, meaning "ancient things", [16] as the first representatives of the domain Archaea were methanogens and it was assumed that their metabolism reflected Earth's primitive atmosphere and the organisms' antiquity, but as new habitats were studied, more organisms were discovered.
This article lists the genera of the Archaea. The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) [1] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). [2] However, in the List provided below, GTDB has precedence unless otherwise noted.
The two-domain system is a biological classification by which all organisms in the tree of life are classified into two domains, Bacteria and Archaea. [1] [2] [3] It emerged from development of knowledge of archaea diversity and challenges the widely accepted three-domain system that classifies life into Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. [4]
Euryarchaeota (from Ancient Greek εὐρύς eurús, "broad, wide") is a kingdom of archaea. [3] Euryarchaeota are highly diverse and include methanogens, which produce methane and are often found in intestines; halobacteria, which survive extreme concentrations of salt; and some extremely thermophilic aerobes and anaerobes, which generally live at temperatures between 41 and 122 °C.
Halophiles (organisms that thrive in highly salty environments) and hyperthermophiles (organisms that thrive in extremely hot environments) are examples of Archaea. [1] Archaea are relatively small. They range from 0.1 μm to 15 μm diameter and up to 200 μm long, about the size of bacteria and the mitochondria found in
The three-domain system adds a level of classification (the domains) "above" the kingdoms present in the previously used five- or six-kingdom systems.This classification system recognizes the fundamental divide between the two prokaryotic groups, insofar as Archaea appear to be more closely related to eukaryotes than they are to other prokaryotes – bacteria-like organisms with no cell nucleus.
In chemical terms, halophile refers to a Lewis acidic species that has some ability to extract halides from other chemical species. While most halophiles are classified into the domain Archaea , there are also bacterial halophiles and some eukaryotic species, such as the alga Dunaliella salina and fungus Wallemia ichthyophaga .
Salt-tolerant archaea (the Haloarchaea) use sunlight as an energy source, and other species of archaea fix carbon; however, unlike plants and cyanobacteria, no known species of archaea does both. Archaea reproduce asexually by binary fission, fragmentation, or budding; unlike bacteria and eukaryotes, no known species forms spores.