Compared to bacteria, our knowledge of archaeal biology is limited. Historically,
microbiologists have mostly relied on culturing and single-gene diversity surveys to …

Woese and Fox's 1977 paper on the discovery of the Archaea triggered a revolution in the
field of evolutionary biology by showing that life was divided into not only prokaryotes and …

The accrual of genomic data from both cultured and uncultured microorganisms provides
new opportunities to develop systematic taxonomies based on evolutionary relationships …

The Archaea occupy a key position in the Tree of Life, and are a major fraction of microbial
diversity. Abundant in soils, ocean sediments and the water column, they have crucial roles …

Background Archaea represent a significant fraction of Earth's biodiversity, yet they remain
much less well understood than Bacteria. Gene surveys, a few metagenomic studies, and …

Bathyarchaeota, formerly known as the Miscellaneous Crenarchaeotal Group, is a phylum of
global generalists that are widespread in anoxic sediments, which host relatively high …

For years, microbiologists characterized the Archaea as obligate extremophiles that thrive in
environments too harsh for other organisms. The limited physiological diversity among …

Over three decades of molecular-phylogenetic studies, researchers have compiled an
increasingly robust map of evolutionary diversification showing that the main diversity of life …

The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) has facilitated the detection of unculturable
microorganisms in virtually any environmental source and has thus been used extensively in …

Methods for identifying species by using short orthologous DNA sequences, known as “DNA
barcodes,” have been proposed and initiated to facilitate biodiversity studies, identify …