Prokaryotes are divided into two distinct groups: the bacteria and the archaea, which scientists believe have unique evolutionary lineages. Most prokaryotes are small, single-celled organisms that ...

Life on Earth had to begin somewhere, and scientists think that “somewhere” is LUCA—or the Last Universal Common Ancestor.

The International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes recently pulled the rank of phylum ... were surprised to find that the familiar names and nomenclature for the bacteria and archaea they study ...

Planctomycetes challenge our concept of the bacterial cell and of a prokaryote as a cell structure type, as well as our ideas about origins of the eukaryote nucleus. Planctomycetes Are Important ...

“This is the most exciting and important paper on big questions about eukaryotic origins and the tree of life ... have been split into three groups on the phylogenetic tree of life: bacteria, archaea, ...