Title: Archaea - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
Headings: Archaea
Archaea
Archaea
Abstract
ARCHAEA
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Archaea (overview)
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Gastrointestinal Microbiota
Archaea
Microbes and Plants
Archaea
Microbial Biodiversity
Glossary
Metagenomics
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
Virus
Structure and Dynamics of Membranes
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Content: Archaea were recognized as a coherent group in the tree of life using small ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequence comparisons by C. R. Woese and coworkers in 1977. Archaea have been detected in nearly all environments examined using culture-independent molecular techniques, including 16S rRNA sequencing. However, most well-characterized Archaea have been cultured from extreme environments that are very salty, acidic, alkaline, hot, cold, or anaerobic where they are sometimes dominant. Methanogenic Archaea have been detected in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract, but no archaeal species causing disease has been identified thus far. Many Archaea are chemoautotrophs and can grow on simple inorganic chemicals, others are heterotrophs and grow on complex organic materials, and a few have phototrophic capabilities and can use light energy for growth. Although Archaea are prokaryotic in their morphology, consisting of cells bounded by a single lipid membrane and lacking a nucleus, some of their molecular characteristics are similar to nucleated eucaryal cells. Archaeal genomes are 0.5–5.75 Mbp circles and include genes for information transfer machineries (DNA replication, transcription, and translation) that are simplified versions of their eucaryal counterparts. They also have unique features, like their membrane lipids, which contain branched chain isoprenoid units in fatty chains linked to a glycerol-1-phosphate head group via ether linkages. Archaea have many useful qualities that have been translated into applications in biotechnology, including thermostable DNA polymerases for polymerase chain reaction (PCR). View chapter Purchase book
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