Terry J Beveridge, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Published online: January 2002
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0000383
Archaea are prokaryotic cells and belong to a separate domain to that of Bacteria. They have a simple cell structure and could resemble the most primitive cells which arose more than 3000 million years ago.
Keywords: archaea; archaebacteria; archaeal structure; cell envelope; plasma membrane; flagella; methanogens; hyperthermophiles; halobacteria; Gram stain
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Figure 1. Electron micrograph of a thin section of an unidentified archaeon showing a single S-layer (as the cell wall), the plasma membrane and the general internal organization of the cell. The fibres of the chromosome which resides in the nucleoid can be seen. (Reprinted from Beveridge TJ (1989) The structure of Bacteria. In: Poindexter JS and Leadbetter ER (eds) Bacteria in Nature: A Treatise on the Interaction of Bacteria and their Habitats, vol. 3, chap. 1, New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation with permission from the publisher.)
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Figure 2. Thin section of the methanochondroitin cell wall of Methanosarcina showing how it resembles the Gram-positive walls seen in eubacteria. (Reproduced from Beveridge and Schultze-Lam (1997), Copyright © 1997 Society for General Microbiology.)
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Figure 3. The simplest cell wall seen in archaea is a single S-layer as represented by this thin section of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. (Reproduced from Beveridge and Schultze-Lam (1997), Copyright © 1997 Society for General Microbiology.)
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Figure 4. One of the most complex enveloping structures is seen in this thin section of a portion of Methanospirillum hungatei which shows the sheath (S-layer), cell wall (S-layer), plasma membrane and spacer plug. (Reproduced from Beveridge and Schultze-Lam (1997), Copyright © 1997 Society for General Microbiology.)
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Figure 5. Micrograph of a negatively stained flagellum from Methanospirillum hungatei showing the filament, hook and knob.
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| References | |
| Archer DB and King NR (1984) Isolation of gas vesicles from Methanosarcina barkeri. Journal of General Microbiology 130: 167–172. | |
| Beveridge TJ and Davies JA (1983) Cellular response of Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli to the Gram stain. Journal of Bacteriology 156: 846–858. | |
| Beveridge TJ and Schultze-Lam S (1997) The response of selected members of the Archaea to the Gram stain. Microbiology 142: 2887–2895. | |
| Beveridge TJ, Patel GB, Harris BJ and Sprott GD (1986a) The ultrastructure of Methanothrix concilii, a mesophilic aceticlastic methanogen. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 32: 703–710. | |
| Beveridge TJ, Harris BJ, Patel GB and Sprott GD (1986b) Cell division and filament splitting in Methanothrix concilii. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 32: 779–786. | |
| Beveridge TJ, Harris BJ and Sprott GD (1987) Septation and filament splitting in Methanospirillum hungatei. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 33: 725–732. | |
| Beveridge TJ, Choquet CG, Patel GB and Sprott GD (1993) Freeze-fracture planes of methanogen membranes correlate with the content of tetraether lipids. Journal of Bacteriology 175: 1191–1197. | |
| Firtel M, Southam G, Harauz G and Beveridge TJ (1993) Characterization of the cell wall of the sheathed methanogen Methanospirillum hungatei GP1 as an S layer. Journal of Bacteriology 23: 7550–7560. | |
| Firtel M, Southam G, Harauz G and Beveridge TJ (1994) The organization of the paracrystalline multilayered spacer plugs of Methanospirillum hungatei. Journal of Structural Biology 112: 160–171. | |
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| Hoppert M and Mayer F (1990) Electron microscopy of native and artificial methylreductase high-molecular-weight complexes in strain Gö1 and Methanococcus voltae. Federation of European Biochemical Societies Letters 267: 33–37. | |
| Jarrell KF, Bayley DP and Kostyukova AS (1996) The archaeal flagellum: a unique motility structure. Journal of Bacteriology 178: 5057–5064. | |
| König H, Kralik R and Kandler O (1982) Structure and chemical modification of pseudomurein in Methanobacteriales. Zentralblatt Bakteriologie und Hygiene 1 Abstracts Original C 3: 179–191. | |
| Kreisl P and Kandler O (1986) Chemical structure of the cell wall polymer of Methanosarcina. Systematic and Applied Microbiology 7: 293–299. | |
| Kushwaha SC, Kates M, Sprott GD and Smith ICP (1981) Novel polar lipids from the methanogen Methanospirillum hungatei GP1. Biochemistry and Biophysics Acta 664: 156–173. | |
| Lake JA, Hendersen E, Clarke MW and Matheson AT (1982) Mapping evolution with ribosomal structure: intralineage constancy and interlineage variation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 79: 5948–5952. | |
| book Langworthy TA (1985) "Lipids of archaebacteria". In: Wolfe RS and Woese CR (eds) The Bacteria – A Treatise on Structure and Function, vol. VIII: Archaebacteria, pp. 459–497. New York: Academic Press. | |
| Pellerin P, Gruson B, Prensier G, Albagnac G and Debeire P (1987) Glycogen in Methanothrix. Archives for Microbiology 146: 377–381. | |
| Pum D, Messner P and Sleytr UB (1991) Role of the S layer in morphogenesis and cell division of the archaebacterium Methanocorpusculum sinense. Journal of Bacteriology 173: 6865–6873. | |
| Rieger G, Rachel R, Herman R and Stetter KO (1995) Ultrastructure of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrodictium abyssi. Journal of Structural Biology 115: 78–87. | |
| Scherer PA and Bochem H-P (1983) Ultrastructural investigation of 12 Methanosarcinae and related species grown on methanol for occurrence of polyphosphate-like inclusions. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 29: 1190–1199. | |
| Sprott GD (1992) Structures of archaebacterial membrane lipids. Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes 24: 555–566. | |
| Sprott GD, Sowden LC, Colvin JR, Jarrell KF and Beveridge TJ (1984) Methanogenesis in the absence of intracytoplasmic membranes. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 30: 594–604. | |
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Sprott GD,
Shaw KM and
Beveridge TJ
(1987)
Properties of the particulate enzyme F | |
| Stewart M, Beveridge TJ and Sprott GD (1985) Crystalline order to high resolution in the sheath of Methanospirillum hungatei: a cross-beta structure. Journal of Molecular Biology 183: 509–515. | |
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Wackett LP,
Hartwieg EA,
King JA,
Orme-Johnson WH and
Walsh CT
(1987)
Electron microscopy of nickel-containing methanogenic enzymes: methyl reductase and F | |
| Woese CR, Kandler O and Wheelis ML (1990) Towards a natural system of organisms: proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 87: 4576–4579. | |
| Xu W, Mulhern PJ, Blackford BL et al. (1996) Modelling and measuring the elastic properties of an archaeal surface, the sheath of Methanospirillum hungatei, and the implication for methane production. Journal of Bacteriology 178: 3106–3112. | |
| Zhilina TN and Zavarzin GA (1987) Methanosarcina vacuolata sp. nov., a vacuolated Methanosarcina. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 37: 281–283. | |
| Further Reading | |
| Baumeister W and Lembcke G (1992) Structural features of archaebacterial cell envelopes. Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes 24: 567–575. | |
| Brown JR and Doolittle WF (1997) Archaea and the prokaryote-to-eukaryote transition. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 61: 456–502. | |
| Jarrell KF, Bayley DP and Kostyukova AS (1996) The archaeal flagellum: a unique motility structure. Journal of Bacteriology 178: 5057–5064. | |
| König H (1988) Archaebacterial cell envelopes. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 34: 395–406. | |
| book Sprott GD and Beveridge TJ (1993) "Microscopy". In: Ferry JG (ed.) Methanogenesis: Ecology, Physiology, Biochemistry and Genetics, chap. 2, pp. 81–127. New York: Chapman and Hall. | |
| book Woese CR and Wolfe RS (eds) (1985) The Bacteria – A Treatise on Structure and Function, vol. VIII: Archaebacteria. New York: Academic Press. | |
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