New insights from the ancients of the microscopic world
The archaeal organism Haloferax volcanii is a common inhabitant of salt lakes around the globe, such as the partly dry Lake Gairdner in South Australia. Picture by Bernhard Tschitschko
In a newly published paper in Nature Microbiology a research team from the iThree Institute at the University of Technology Sydney describes the cell division process used by the microorganism Haloferax volcanii from the archaea realm of single-celled life, which is distinct from bacteria.
Archaea make up the third major grouping, or domain, of life on the planet, alongside eukaryotes (including all plants and animals) and bacteria, but were only recognised as being distinct from bacteria in the late 1970s.
They can survive in extreme conditions of cold, heat and salinity, exist in the soil, sewage, oceans, and oil wells, and even make up an estimated 10 per cent of the microbial population found within the human gut.
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