The Santiago-Martinez lab uses modern approaches to investigate ancient things.
-by Stacey Hanlon
Cellular life on Earth can be classified into one of three domains: Eukarya (Eukaryota), Bacteria, and Archaea.
Though most of us are familiar with species that fall into the Eukaryota and Bacteria domains, those belonging to the Archaea domain are often ignored despite being found all around us. From the Greek word meaning “ancient things,” archaea are found in a variety of harsh environments like boiling-hot geysers and salt lakes, but they can also be found in the soil and the digestive tracts of several animals, including humans. The Archaea domain was established in the late 1970s after scientists began using genetic sequence (rather than physical characteristics) to classify organisms and reveal how closely they are related[1]. The significant difference between the genetic sequences of microbes that physiologically appeared to be very similar to one another led scientists to establish the Archaea domain to separate these species from Bacteria and Eukaryota.
