Latest Archaea Stories

Life on Earth would be impossible, without the metabolic capacities of the smallest of all living forms, the Bacteria and the Archaea. These microorganisms play a central role in global nutrient cycles, because they degrade organic matter to the smallest compounds, thus bringing them back to the atmosphere or recycling them for the synthesis of novel cells. "However, the great diversity and high numbers of Bacteria and Archaea in soils have only been detected relatively recently, with...

A new study reveals that a group of ancient enzymes adapted to substantial changes in ocean temperature and acidity during the last four billion years, providing evidence that life on Early Earth evolved from a much hotter, more acidic environment to the cooler, less acidic global environment that exists today.The study found that a group of ancient enzymes known as thioredoxin were chemically stable at temperatures up to 32 degrees Celsius (58 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than their modern...

Team maps targets with hopes of blocking reproduction and rendering infection down for the countIn any battle, sizing up one's opponent is a critical first step. For researchers fighting a bacterial infection, that means assessing every nook and cranny of the malicious microorganism and identifying which ones to attack.At the Center for Biological Research of the Spanish Research Council in Madrid, scientists are devising maneuvers they hope will take out bacteria at their molecular knees,...

Lowly bacteria are turning out to be much more complex than previously thought.In the July, 2010 issue of the journal Molecular Microbiology, Loyola University Health System researchers describe an example of bacterial complexity, called "protein acetylation," which once was thought to be rare in bacteria.This discovery that protein acetylation is common in bacteria has led to the "dawning of a new age" in bacterial research, senior author Alan Wolfe, PhD. and colleagues...

First large-scale formal quantitative test confirms Darwin's theory of universal common ancestryMore than 150 years ago, Darwin proposed the theory of universal common ancestry (UCA), linking all forms of life by a shared genetic heritage from single-celled microorganisms to humans. Until now, the theory that makes ladybugs, oak trees, champagne yeast and humans distant relatives has remained beyond the scope of a formal test. This week, a Brandeis biochemist reports in Nature the results of...

Microbes have among smallest genomes, plus unusual interactions with other ArchaeaIn the depths of a former copper mine in Northern California dwell what may be the smallest, most stripped-down forms of life ever discovered.The microbes "“ members of the domain of one-celled creatures called Archaea "“ are smaller than other known microorganisms, rivaled in size only by a microbe that can survive solely as a parasite attached to the outside of other cells. Their genomes, reconstructed by...

In proper society of yesterday, a chaperone ensured that couples maintained appropriate courting rituals. In biology, a group of proteins called chaperonins make sure that proteins are folded properly to carry out their assigned roles in the cells.In a new study in archaea (single-celled organisms without nuclei to enclose their genetic information), a consortium of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and Stanford University in California discovered how the Group II chaperonins close...

The Earth is estimated to have about a nonillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) microbes in, on, around, and under it, comprised of an unknown but very large number of distinct species. Despite the widespread availability of microbial genome data"”close to 2,000 microbes have been and are being decoded to date"”a vast unknown realm awaits scientists intent on exploring microorganisms that inhabit this "undiscovered country."Two thousand years after Pliny the Elder...

Bacteria don't have easy lives. In addition to mammalian immune systems that besiege the bugs, they have natural enemies called bacteriophages, viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two days.Still, bacteria and another class of microorganisms called archaea (first discovered in extreme environments such as deep-sea volcanic vents) manage just fine, thank you, in part because they have a built-in defense system that helps protect them from many viruses and other invaders.A team of...

Sediment samples from methane cold seeps off California shed light on mysteryScientists have identified an unexpected metabolic ability in a symbiotic community of deep-sea microorganisms. It may help solve a lingering mystery about the world's nitrogen cycle.The element nitrogen is a critical part of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, and therefore essential to all life. Although nitrogen is plentiful on Earth--it represents 78 percent of the atmosphere, by volume--the element is...