title: Major players on the microbial stage: why archaea are important.
abstract: As microbiology undergoes a renaissance, fuelled in part by developments in new sequencing technologies, the massive diversity and abundance of microbes becomes yet more obvious. The Archaea have traditionally been perceived as a minor group of organisms forced to evolve into environmental niches not occupied by their more 'successful' and 'vigorous' counterparts, the bacteria. Here we outline some of the evidence gathered by an increasingly large and productive group of scientists that demonstrates not only that the Archaea contribute significantly to global nutrient cycling, but also that they compete successfully in 'mainstream' environments. Recent data suggest that the Archaea provide the major routes for ammonia oxidation in the environment. Archaea also have huge economic potential that to date has only been fully realized in the production of thermostable polymerases. Archaea have furnished us with key paradigms for understanding fundamentally conserved processes across all domains of life. In addition, they have provided numerous exemplars of novel biological mechanisms that provide us with a much broader view of the forms that life can take and the way in which micro-organisms can interact with other species. That this information has been garnered in a relatively short period of time, and appears to represent only a small proportion of what the Archaea have to offer, should provide further incentives to microbiologists to investigate the underlying biology of this fascinating domain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.
authors.forename: Ken F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Jarrell
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
authors.forename: Alison D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
authors.forename: Chitvan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bochiwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
authors.forename: Juliet M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Borgia
authors.affiliation: Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dickinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
authors.forename: James P J
authors.initials: JPJ
authors.lastname: Chong
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia; D001105:Archaea / Q000378:metabolism*; D017753:Ecosystem; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction
chemical_list: D000641:Ammonia