BIOLOGY 2EE3 Lecture 4: 4- Archaea
16 Oct 2015
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Said that there is more life underground than above: life found deep inside earth"s oceanic crust , mining exposes highly reduced compounds (oil, minerals etc ) that are food for bacteria. Coal: + water + o2, sulphuric acid, reduced metals become more soluble => another energy source: catalytic reaction for microbes. Disadvantages: microbes may be anerobic (low levels of o2); high temperature. Advantages: pressure: can compensate for high temperatures, which can help stability of dna. Live in the most inhospitable places (for humans) Use rrna to determine the evolutionary relatedness: woese and fox studied small unit rrna, since present in all organisms, can be used as a point of comparison and determine genetic similarities between organisms. First portion is termed archaeons were methanogens: poorly characterized group of microbes capable of producing methane as a byproduct, can be found in sewage treatment plants. Dna is complex with histones: single, circular dna.
