Title: Archaebacteria: Definition And Examples | Science Trends
Headings: Archaebacteria: Definition And Examples
Archaebacteria: Definition And Examples
The Classification Of Archaea
Archaebacteria Theories
Traits Of Archaebacteria
“My bacteria glow in the dark – no human being doesn’t like that.” — Bonnie Bassler
Different Kinds Of Archaea
Crenarchaeota
Euryarchaeota
Korarchaeota
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Content: Archaea are often found in hot springs as well as around hydrothermal vents. Photo: ZYjacklin via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Archaea have the ability to not only survive, but thrive, in environments most other organisms would not be able to live in. These include high-temperature environments, highly acidic environments, and high salt environments. The bacteria can potentially survive temperatures as high as 190°F, and substances with acidity as high as 0.9 pH.
Beyond this, archaebacteria engage in horizontal gene transfer quite frequently. Horizontal gene transfer is when one individual transfers a gene to another individual within the lifetimes of those individuals. This makes it difficult to precisely determine how closely archaebacteria cells are related to one another. In fact, it’s difficult to ascertain if the bacteria even have the kinds of stable traits that a biologist might typically use to classify a species. For this reason, archaebacteria have challenged the traditional methods of species classification. ADVERTISEMENT
Traits Of Archaebacteria
The ancient cells that comprise archaea/archaebacteria display a number of traits or attributes not present in more modern types of cells.