What is Archaea?

Archaea are unicellular, prokaryotic microorganisms that differ from

bacteria in their genetics, biochemistry, and ecology. Many archaea
have been found living in extreme environments, for example at high
pressures, salt concentrations or temperatures. These types of
organisms are called extremophiles. Their cell wall differs in
structure from that of bacteria and is thought to be more stable in
extreme conditions, helping to explain why some archaea can live in
many of the most hostile environments on Earth. Only archaea are
known to produce methane. Methane producing archaea are called
methanogens. Halophilic archaea prefer a concentration of salt close
to saturation and perform photosynthesis using bacteriorhodopsin.
Some archaea, based on fossil evidence, are among the oldest
organisms on Earth. Archaea do not live in great numbers in human
microbiomes and are not known to cause disease. Archaea can be
spherical, rod, spiral, lobed, rectangular or irregular in shape. An
unusual flat, square-shaped species that lives in salty pools has
also been discovered. Some exist as single cells, others form
filaments or clusters.

Archaea are a group of microorganisms that are similar to, but

evolutionary distinct from bacteria.

Archaea Etymology, archaea is a modern Latin word derived from the

Greek word "arkhaios" meaning 'primitive'. The singular of archaea
is archaeon. Archaea is the plural form of archaeon.
Characteristics of Archaea

Archaea or achaebacteria evolved separately from eubacteria and

eukaryotes. They are similar to eubacteria in being prokaryotes and
lacking a distinct nucleus. However, they differ in terms of
ribosomal structure, the presence of introns (in some archaeal
species), and membrane structure or composition. They are similar to
eukaryotes in way that archaea possess genes and several metabolic
pathways that are more closely related to those of eukaryotes,
notably, the enzymes involved in transcription and translation. They
are regarded to be living fossils and sruvivors of an ancient group
of organisms that bridged the gap in evolution between eubacteria
and eukaryotes.

Unlike most bacteria and eukaryotes, archaea thrives in harsh

environments including extremes in temperature, pH, and salinity. In
addition the domain archaea is further distinguished from bacteria
and eukaryotes by unique genotypic and phenotypic adaptations to the
diverse ecological niches of its members.

Ribosomal RNA: All cells contain ribosomes comprised of protein

subunits and RNA. Analysis of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (16S)
in bacteria and archaea revealed an evolutionary divergence of the
two lineages and was used to establish the domain Archaea. Further
analysis demonstrated that the three domains of life are equidistant
genealogically and shows that archaeal ribosomal RNA is more
homologous to eukaryotic ribosomal RNA than to bacterial ribosomal
RNA.

Genome: Approximately 15% of the coding sequences in archaeal

genomes are not present in bacteria and eukaryotes.

Cell Wall: Bacterial cell walls are comprised of peptidoglycan and

eukaryotic cell walls are made of chitin or cellulose. In contrast,
a variety of components including polysaccharides, glycoproteins,
protein-based S-layers, and pseudomurein are present in the cell
walls of archaea.

Cell Membrane: Archaeal cell membranes contain L-glycerol ethers and

can contain phospolipids synthesized from isoprenoids. In contrast,
the cell membranes of eukaryotes and bacteria contain D-glycerol
esters and phospolipid synthesized from fatty acids. The unique cell
membrane structure in the domain Archaea is an adaptation to high
temperature and high salt habitats.

Antibiotic Resistance and Sensitivity: Consistent with major

differences in the cell wall and ribosomes, archaea are resistant to
antibiotics that target these cell components in bacteria. Archaea
are resistant to antibiotics that target peptidoglycan synthesis
including penicillin and polymyxins and to antibiotics that target
bacterial protein synthesis by binding the 16S ribosomal RNA
including streptomycin and kanamycin. Further, archaea are
susceptible to antibiotics that target prokaryotic DNA such as
quinolone and novobiocin. In addition, archaea are sensitive to
antimicrobial agents produced by archaea and those effective against
both bacteria and eukaryotes.

Viral Infection: Most of the 65 known archaeal viruses are double-

stranded DNA viruses. Those viruses with a host range specific to
archaea also have adaptations to extreme environmental conditions.

Archaea Examples and Types of Archaea

Scientists subdivide the domain Archaea into 5 major phyla based

upon the degree of evolutionary relatedness amongst species.

1. Euryachaeota is comprised of methanogens. The members are

critical to geochemical carbon cycling.
2. Korachaeota represents the oldest cell lineage. Archea in this
phylum are only found in low abundance on the ocean floor near
hyperthermal vents.

3. Nanoarchaeota are the smallest known cells and obligate symbionts

to other archaea.

4. Crenarchaeota are all aquatic and the most abundant microbes in

the oceans.

5. Thaumarchaeota are the most abundant prokaryotes in soil systems.

They are thought to be among the most abundant life forms at 5% of
the total prokaryote population.
The three main types of archaea are:

1. Methanogens - are anaerobic organisms that produce methane gas.

They can be found in sewage plants.

2. Thermophiles - are those archaea that can survive in an extremely

hot emvironment. These include the hot springs.

3. Halophiles - are those archaea that live in an extreme saline

environment. These can be found in seawater.

Habitats of the Archaea

Archaea were first identified from extreme environments like

volcanoes, hydrothermal vents, etc. But as the sequencing technology
became more widely available, the archaeal presence was found to be
ubiquitous. Now they are known to inhabit a vast range of natural
environments and habitats. Besides constituting a major parts of the
ecosystem, they play an instrumental role in its functioning, too.
They inhabit both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Here's the list of some of their major habitats:

• Deep seas and oceans (archaea form nearly 20% of microbial

diversity of the oceans)

• Geysers

• Hot water springs

• Hydrothermal vents

• Volcanoes

• Black smokers

• Mines and oil wells

• Very cold habitats like ice sheaths of tundra

• Highly saline lakes

• Highly acidic places

• Highly alkaline waters

• Swamps, wetlands, and marshlands

• Sewage

• Intestinal tracts of humans and animals

• Highly degraded soils, anoxic muds (archaea in soil)

Archaeal Groups Inhabiting Different Extreme Habitats

Since archaea inhabit extreme habitats, they are called

extremophiles. Within extremophiles, there are different
physiological categories or types of archaea like:

1. Halophiles (live in extreme salt conditions like salt lakes, and

brackish waters).

Example: Halobacterium spp

2. Thermophiles (live in extremely high temperatures like hot

springs and vents).

Example: Methanopyrus kandleri

3. Alkaliphiles (live in extreme alkaline conditions like marine

hydrothermal systems).

Example: Thermococcus alcaliphilus is a marine archaea

4. Acidophiles (live in extremely acidic conditions like dry hot

soil and volcanis sites).

Example: Picrophilus torridus

Energy sources used by Archaea

• Relatively diverse group sources than eukaryotic organisms, like

sugars, ammonia, metal ions, and hydrogen gas.

• Based on their preference of source for deriving energy, they are

divided into different nutritional groups. Some of them are:

√ Phototrophic Archaea - some species of archaea are known to

utilize energy from the sun. Hence, they are called phototrophic
archae. Although they can utilize sunlight like the plants, they
can't fix atmospheric carbon.

Example: Haloarchaea or Halobacterium

√ Lithotrophic Archaea - some species of archaea are known to

utilize inorganic compounds (chemical energy) to take care of their
energy needs like metal ions, hydrogen, ammonia.

Example: Pyrolobus, Ferroglobus, Methanobacteria, ammonia oxidizing

archaea, sulfate reducing archaea.

√ Organotrophic Archaea - some species of archaea are known to

utilize organic compounds to take care of their energy needs like
pyruvate, starch, maltose.
Example: Methanosarcinales, Pyrococcus, Sulfolobus