Title: Making the Case Against Archaea | Scienceline
Headings: Making the Case Against Archaea
Making the Case Against Archaea
Disease hunters target an ancient form of life.
Robert Goodier • January 2, 2009
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Life Science
Making the Case Against Archaea
Disease hunters target an ancient form of life. Robert Goodier • January 2, 2009
Single-celled organisms called archaea live in the earth's most extreme environments, including geysers. Scientists are investigating if the little-known branch of life affects human diseases. [ Credit: szeke, flickr.com]
Thirty years ago, a University of Illinois microbiologist named Carl Woese famously declared that some microbes are so different from the rest that they should be classified as a third branch of life. They are archaea, sharing the stage with bacteria and with eukarya, the branch that includes plants, animals, fungi and microscopic protists. Their toughness soon became legendary. They cropped up in places that would kill most things: from geysers and oil wells to salt lakes and polar seas. Then some were found inside animals, including us, and suddenly scientists were seeing them everywhere: