Archaea are unicellular micro-organisms which are often found in extreme conditions. They were first discovered in volcanic hot water springs, where temperatures are near boiling point.
Archaea are unicellular micro-organisms which are often found in extreme conditions. They were first discovered in volcanic hot water springs, where temperatures are near boiling point.
Lots of extremophiles
Just like bacteria, archaea do not have a cell nucleus. That means they are prokaryotes. Many archaea live in extreme conditions and are therefore known as extremophiles. Archaea are part of the Archaea domain of the tree of life, next to the two other domains, bacteria and eukaryotes.
Own domain
It was only in 1977 that archaea was given its own domain in the rankings of life. The researcher Carl Woese made the move after hitting a conundrum in his work. These micro-organisms did not fit in the bacteria domain or in the eukaryotes domain because of all sorts of small but essential properties. Carl Woese had discovered a completely new form of life, the archaea.