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Archaea

Archaea (Archaebacteria)
Temporal range: Paleoarchean or perhaps Eoarchean – recent
Halobacteria.jpg
Halobacterium sp. strain NRC-1,
each cell about 5 μm long
Scientific classification
Superdomain: Neomura
Domain: Archaea
Woese, Kandler & Wheelis, 1990
Kingdoms and phyla
Synonyms
  • Archaebacteria Woese & Fox, 1977
  • Mendosicutes Gibbons & Murray, 1978
  • Metabacteria Hori and Osawa 1979

The Archaea (Listeni/ɑːrˈkə/ or /ɑːrˈkə/ ar-KEE or ar-KAY) constitute a domain and kingdom of single-celled microorganisms. These microbes (archaea; singular archaeon) are prokaryotes, meaning that they have no cell nucleus or any other membrane-bound organelles in their cells.

Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria (in the Archaebacteria kingdom), but this classification is outdated. Archaeal cells have unique properties separating them from the other two domains of life, Bacteria and Eukaryota. The Archaea are further divided into multiple recognized phyla. Classification is difficult because the majority have not been isolated in the laboratory and have only been detected by analysis of their nucleic acids in samples from their environment.


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Wikipedia

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