title: Close encounters of the third domain: the emerging genomic view of archaeal diversity and evolution.
abstract: The Archaea represent the so-called Third Domain of life, which has evolved in parallel with the Bacteria and which is implicated to have played a pivotal role in the emergence of the eukaryotic domain of life. Recent progress in genomic sequencing technologies and cultivation-independent methods has started to unearth a plethora of data of novel, uncultivated archaeal lineages. Here, we review how the availability of such genomic data has revealed several important insights into the diversity, ecological relevance, metabolic capacity, and the origin and evolution of the archaeal domain of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 596, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 596, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Joran
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martijn
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 596, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jimmy H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Saw
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 596, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anders E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Lind
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 596, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guy
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 596, 75123 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Thijs J G
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Ettema
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008697:Methane / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D008697:Methane