Topic 3 - Archaea Flashcards
archaea look like eukarya/bacteria?
bacteria
are archaea and bacteria genetically similar?
NO
any known archaeal human pathogens?
NO
archaea can form ___ shapes
bizarre
Who began archaeal studies (phylogenetic trees)
Woese and Fox
what did archaea used to be called?
Archaeobacteria
what were the first “archaea” discovered?
methanogens
are archaea the only ones that can do methanogenesis?
YES
how big are archaea?
~0.5-5microns in diameter
- varies a lot! (100micron in some species)
shapes of archaeal cells
- rods, cocci, spirals (like bacteria)
- irregular shapes
- rectangular shapes
- squares (high surface area)
do archaea have chloroplasts?
NO they could be gas vacuoles but NO chloroplasts!
archaea: cytoplasm
- cytoplasm molecules similar to bacteria
- inclusion bodies (e.g., gas vacuoles) are in some species
- single circular chromosomes & no membrane-bound nucleus
- many of DNA replication enzymes of archaea “look” like eukarya’s
- development of histones may have been an early “branch point event” in evolution of archaea and eukarya (diff in archaea from eukarya)
Archaea: what is gas vacuole an example of?
inclusion bodies
difference between eukaryal and archaeal nucleosomes?
Eukaryal:
- 160-nucleotide-pair length of DNA
- octamer of histone proteins
Archaeal:
- 60-nucleotide-pair length of DNA
- tetramer of histone proteins
archaea: cytoskeleton
- cytoskeletal homologues found in both eukarya and bacteria
- i.e. kind of close to both bacteria and eukarya, but they all have cytoskeletal elements
archaea: cell envelope
- all archaea have a plasma membrane
- most have cell walls, most do NOT have outer membrane (like G+ve)
- both structures are different from equivalents in other domains