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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]
A speculatively rooted tree for RNA genes, showing major branches Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota The three-domain tree and the eocyte hypothesis (two-domain tree), 2008. [7] Phylogenetic tree showing the relationship between the eukaryotes and other forms of life, 2006. [8] Eukaryotes are colored red, archaea green, and bacteria blue.
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.
A lineage of archaea discovered in 2015, Lokiarchaeum (of the proposed new phylum "Lokiarchaeota"), named for a hydrothermal vent called Loki's Castle in the Arctic Ocean, was found to be the most closely related to eukaryotes known at that time. It has been called a transitional organism between prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
In 1977, Carl Woese and colleagues proposed the fundamental subdivision of the prokaryotes into the Eubacteria (later called the Bacteria) and Archaebacteria (later called the Archaea), based on ribosomal RNA structure; [15] this would later lead to the proposal of three "domains" of life, of Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota. [5]
Bacterial phyla constitute the major lineages of the domain Bacteria. While the exact definition of a bacterial phylum is debated, a popular definition is that a bacterial phylum is a monophyletic lineage of bacteria whose 16S rRNA genes share a pairwise sequence identity of ~75% or less with those of the members of other bacterial phyla. [2]
A small number of scientists include a sixth kingdom, Archaea, but do not accept the domain method. [68] Thomas Cavalier-Smith, who published extensively on the classification of protists, in 2002 [71] proposed that the Neomura, the clade that groups together the Archaea and Eucarya, would have evolved from Bacteria, more precisely from ...
Archaea share this defining feature with the bacteria with which they were once grouped. In 1990 the microbiologist Woese proposed the three-domain system that divided living things into bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes, [42] and thereby split the prokaryote domain. Archaea differ from bacteria in both their genetics and biochemistry.