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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.
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]
The evolution of bacteria has progressed over billions of years since the Precambrian time with their first major divergence from the archaeal/eukaryotic lineage roughly 3.2-3.5 billion years ago. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] This was discovered through gene sequencing of bacterial nucleoids to reconstruct their phylogeny .
A major step forward in the study of bacteria came in 1977 when Carl Woese recognised that archaea have a separate line of evolutionary descent from bacteria. [265] This new phylogenetic taxonomy depended on the sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA and divided prokaryotes into two evolutionary domains, as part of the three-domain system. [5]
They suggested and formally defined the terms Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya for the three domains of life. [22] It was the first tree founded on molecular phylogenetics and microbial evolution as its basis. [23] [24] The model of a tree is still considered valid for eukaryotic life forms.
Presently, scientists classify all life into just three domains, Eukaryotes, Bacteria and Archaea. [2] Bacterial taxonomy is the classification of strains within the domain Bacteria into hierarchies of similarity. This classification is similar to that of plants, mammals, and other taxonomies. However, biologists specializing in different areas ...
Eukaryogenesis, the process which created the eukaryotic cell and lineage, is a milestone in the evolution of life, since eukaryotes include all complex cells and almost all multicellular organisms. The process is widely agreed to have involved symbiogenesis , in which an archaeon and a bacterium came together to create the first eukaryotic ...