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Microbiology Archae are tiny microbes with no cell nucleus and membrane bound organelles. Originally thought to be extremophiles living in harsh environments, these creatures can live a range of habitats like oceans, soils and even salty lakes. Overall, these organisms are special and different from other life forms. The rise of archae is one of the main differences why scientist distinct it from other prokaryotes. In the past, archae was classified an archaebacteria, but now with better studies conducted, archae is known to have an independent evolutionary history.
They didn’t rise up in similar conditions like bacteria and eukaryotes. Because of this they placed as a separate domain in the three-domain system, that divides cellular life forms into bacteria, archaea, and eukaryote domains. Also their biochemistry is different where they have a reliance on ether lipids in their cell membranes. The chemical makeup of Archea is one of the main differences why it is separated from other prokaryotes. Many forms of prokaryotes have cell walls made up of chemical peptidoglycan, which is a molecule composed of linked modified sugar olecules cross-linked with short polypeptides.
Archae unfortunately do not contain this material, but are instead composed of surface layer proteins known as S-layers. These S layers have a thickness between 5 and 25 nm and possess identical pores with 2-8 nm in diameter. Because of this, it helps archae survive the harsh conditions the environment has to offer. Reproduction in Archae is very special and unique. Unlike other prokaryotes, these organisms reproduce asexually by binary fission, which is when a cell divides into two equal sized daughter cells.
The genetic material is also equally segregated, therefore, the daughter cells are genetically identical to the parent. Archae can also produce by budding where a new organism remains attached as it grows, separating from the parent organism only when it is mature. Overall, archae has some different characteristics than other prokaryotes. However, these organisms do have similarities. One important is that these organisms help the environment and are helpful to humans in sewage treatment. Microbiology How Are Archae Different from other procaryotes By yankees41084