Neomura

From Citizendium
Revision as of 19:46, 26 March 2007 by imported>Michael McClellan
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Neomura
Scientific classification
Domain: Neomura
Subdomains

Archaea
Eukarya

Neomura is the domain containing the two subdomains of Archaea and Eukaryota. According to Thomas Cavalier-Smith, the distinction between Neomura and Bacteria was marked by twenty evolutionary adaptions, which accompanied, or derived from, two other important adaptions: the development of histones to replace DNA gyrase, and the loss of peptidoglycan cell walls to be replaced by other glycoproteins. The word "Neomura" reflects this last change; it means "new walls."

A phylogenetic tree, showing how Eukaryota and Archaea are more closely related to each other than to Bacteria, based on Cavalier-Smith's theory of bacterial evolution.