ARCHAEBACTERIA

BY

LATA SUNHRE
 INTRODUCTION
 Biologists have long organized living things into six large groups called kingdoms.
There are:
 Archaebacteria
 Eubacteria
 Protista
 Fungi
 Plantae
 Animalia
 In 1996, scientists decided to split into two groups of bacteria:
 Archaebacteria and Eubacteria
 Because these two groups of bacteria were different in many ways scientists
created a new level of classification called a DOMAIN.
 Now we have 3 domains
 1.Bacteria
 2. Archaea
 3. Eukarya
 New branch of life....
In 1970s carl woese proposed -3 domain classification
 BASIC FACTS ABOUT ARCHAEA

They live in extreme environments (like hot springs or salty lakes) and
normal environments (like soil and ocean water).
All are unicellular (each individual is only one cell).
No peptidoglycan in their cell wall.
Some have a flagella that aids in their locomotion.
 STRUCTURE
Size:
• Archaea are slightly less than 1 micron long.
• A micron is 1/1,000 of a millimeter.
•In order to see their cellular features, scientists use powerful electron microscopes.
Shape:
•Shapes can be spherical or ball shaped and are called coccus.
• Others are rod shaped, long and thin, and labeled bacillus.
•Variations of cells have been discovered in square and triangular shapes.
ARCHAEAL CELL
WALL
Archaeal cell envelopes
 One of he distinctive feature of the archaea is the nature
of envelope
 S-layer is the major component of the cellwall
 Some archaea lacks cellwall but have a glyocalyx lying out side
the cell membrane
 Capsules and slime layers are rare among archaea
 CELL WALL
• Archael cellwall lacks peptidoglycan and exhibit considerable variety in terms of their chemical make
up
• The most common type of archaeal cell wall is an S-layer composed of either protein or
glycoprotein
• The layer may be as thick as 20 to 40 nm. eg; methanococcus, halobacterium
• Other archaea have additional layers of material outside the S-layer
• Methanospirillum has a protein sheath external to the s-layer
• Methanosarcina has a layer of chondroitin- like material, this material is called methanochondroitin
•In some archaea S-layer is the outer most layer and separated from the plasma membrane by
pseudomurein
•pseudomurein is a peptidoglycan-like molecule.
• Differs from peptidoglycan in that it has N- acetyltalosaminuronic acid and beta (1,3)
glycosidic linkage instead of N- acetylmuramic acid and beta (1,4) glycosidic linkage.
•eg- Methanobacterium, Methanothermus and Methanopyrus
•The last type of archaeal cell wall does not include an s-layer .these archaea have a wall with a
single, homogenous layer resembling in gram- positive bacteria
 ARCHAEAL PLASMA MEMBRANES
• Archaeal membranes are composed primely of lipids that differ from bacterial and eukaryotic in
two ways.
1. They contain hydrocarbons derived from isoprene units(five carbon, branched)

2. Hydrocarbons attached to glycerol by ether linkage rather than ester links

•This ether bonding makes it possible for archaea to survive in environments that are extremely
acidic or alkaline, or that have great extremes in temperature.
GENETICS & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
Genomes are significantly smaller than bacteria.
E. coli – 2.5 x 109 Daltons
T. acidophilum – 0.8 x 109 Daltons
Methanosarcina acetivorans, the largest known archaeal genome.
Nanoarchaeum equitans, the smallest archaeal genome known.
•Plasmids are also found.
•Archaea usually have a single circular chromosome.
 Transcription and translation in archaea resemble these
processes in eukaryotes more than in bacteria
 Archaea have a single type of RNA Polymerase and similar
to eukaryotes
Aarchaeal genes lack introns
 Hyperthermophiles posses reverse DNA gyrase.
 NUTRITIONAL TYPES IN ARCHAEA
Nutritional Source of energy Source of carbon Examples
type

Phototrophs Sunlight Organic Halobacteria

compounds

Inorganic Organic Ferroglobus, Met

Lithotrophs compounds compounds or hanobacteria or
carbon fixation Pyrolobus

Organic Organic Pyrococcus,

Organotrophs compounds compounds or Sulfolobus or
carbon fixation Methanosarcinales
COMPARISON BETWEEN ARCHEAEA
AND EUBACTERIA
S.No Character Eubacteria Archeabacteria
1. Cell type Prokaryotic Prokaryotic
2. Cell Morphology Variable Variable
Habitat Present every where Mostly initiated in extreme
3.
environmental condition.
Cell Wall Peptidoglycan with muramic acid Variety of types, no muramic acid
4.

Membrane lipids Ester linked, straight- chained fatty Ether linked branched aliphatic
5. acids are present containing l- chains are present containing D-
glycerol phosphate glycerol phosphate
6. Glycosidic linkages β 1,4 linkages β 1,3 linkages
DNA Dependent RNA Simple subunit pattern Complex subunit pattern similar to
7. polymerase eukaryotic enzyme

8. tRNA Thymine present in most tRNAs No thymine in TC arm of tRNA

9. Intron Introns are absent Introns are present

10. Chromosome Circular Circular
S.No Character Eubacteria Archeabacteria

11. Replication origins Single Multiple

12. RNA polymerase Single Multiple

13. Initiator tRNA Formyl-methionine Methionine

14. Streptomycin inhibition Sensitive Resistant

 ARCHAEA CLASSIFICATION

• Members of the domain Archaea are phylogenetically divided into four kingdoms.
Phylogeny of domain Archaea based on comparison of the 16S rRNA sequences.
1. Euryarchaeotoa
2. Crenarchaeota
3. Nanoarcheota

4. Korarchaeota
Phylum Representative organisms Representative micrograph
Euarcheaeotes Methanogens: Methane production causes
flatulence in humans and other animals.
This phylum includes Halobacteria: Large blooms of this salt-
methanogens, which produce loving archaea appear reddish due to the
methane as a metabolic waste presence of bacteriorhodopsin in the
product, and halobacteria, which membrane.
live in an extreme saline  Bacteriorhodopsin is related to the retinal
environment. pigment rhodopsin.
Halobacterium strain NRC-1

Crenarchaeota Sulfolobus: Members of this genus grow in

volcanic springs at temperatures between
Members of this ubiquitous 75º and 80º C and at a pH between 2 and 3.
phylum play an important role in
the fixation of carbon.
Many members of this group are
sulfur-dependent extremophiles.
Sulfolobus being infected by
Some are thermophilic or bacteriophage
hyperthermophilic.
Phylum Representative organisms Representative micrograph

Nanoarchaeum equitans: This species

Nanoarchaeota was isolated from the bottom of the
Atlantic Ocean and from a
This group currently contains only hydrothermal vent at Yellowstone
one species: Nanoarchaeum National Park. It is an obligate
equitans. symbiont with Ignicoccus, another
species of archaea. Nanoarchaeum equitans (small dark
spheres) are in contact with their larger
host, Ignococcus

Korarchaeota
This group is considered to be one
of the most primitive forms of life. No members of this species have been
Members of this phylum have only cultivated.
been found in the Obsidian Pool, a
hot spring at Yellowstone National This image shows a variety of korarchaeota
Park. species from the Obsidian Pool at
Yellowstone National Park.
 SIGNIFICANCE OF ARCHAEA
•Methanogens are used for the production of methane which is a rich source of energy (bio
gas) Methanogenic archaea are a vital part of sewage treatment.
•Halophilic archaea are used to prescreen antitumor drugs active on eukaryotic proteins.
•Thermophilic archaea are used in PCR.
• Thermostable DNA polymerases, such as the Pfu DNA polymerase from Pyrococcus
furiosus
•Amylases, galactosidases and pullulanases in other species of Pyrococcus that function at
over 100 °C (212 °F) allow food processing at high temperatures such as the production of
lactose milk and whey.
• In mineral processing, acidophilic archaea display promise for the extraction of metals
from ores, including gold, cobalt and copper.
 Thank You
Chemotaxis
a. Motile procaryotes can respond to gradients of attractants and repellents, a
phenomenon known as chemotaxis.
b. A bacterium accomplishes movement toward an attractant by increasing the
length of time it spends moving toward the attractant, shortening the time it
spends tumbling. Conversely, a bacterium increases its run time when it
moves away from a repellent.