Carl Richard Woese (born July 15, 1928, Syracuse, New York) is an American microbiologist famous for defining the Archaea (a new domain or kingdom of life) in 1977 by phylogenetic taxonomy of 16S ribosomal RNA, a technique pioneered by Woese and which is now standard practice.^[1][2][3] He was also the originator of the RNA world hypothesis in 1967, although not by that name. July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... Nickname: The Salt City Location of Syracuse within the state of New York Coordinates: City Mayor Matthew Driscoll Area    - City 66. ... Phyla / Classes Phylum Crenarchaeota Phylum Euryarchaeota     Halobacteria     Methanobacteria     Methanococci     Methanopyri     Archaeoglobi     Thermoplasmata     Thermococci Phylum Korarchaeota Phylum Nanoarchaeota Archaea (; from Greek αρχαία, ancient ones; singular Archaeum, Archaean, or Archaeon), also called Archaebacteria (), is a major division of living organisms. ... In biology, a domain (also superregnum, superkingdom, or empire) is the top-level grouping of organisms in scientific classification, higher than a kingdom. ... Ernst Haeckels presentation of a three-kingdom system (Plantae, Protista, Animalia) in his 1866 Generelle Morphologie der Organismen). ... A phylogeny (or phylogenesis) is the origin and evolution of a set of organisms, usually of a species. ... Look up taxonomy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A Svedberg (symbol S, sometimes Sv) is a non-SI physical unit used in ultracentrifugation. ... Figure 1: Ribosome structure indicating small subunit (A) and large subunit (B). ... Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a nucleic acid polymer consisting of nucleotide monomers. ... The RNA world hypothesis proposes that RNA was actually the first life-form on earth, later developing a cell membrane around it and becoming the first prokaryotic cell. ...

Woese is currently a professor of Microbiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. An agar plate streaked with microorganisms Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are unicellular or cell-cluster microscopic organisms. ... The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), is the largest campus in the University of Illinois system. ...

Having defined Archaea as a new domain, Woese redrew the taxonomic tree. His three-domain system, based upon genetic relationships rather than obvious morphological similarities, divided life into 23 main divisions, all incorporated within three domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eucarya. Archaea are neither Bacteria nor Eukaryotes. Looked at another way, they are Prokaryotes which are not Bacteria. Look up taxonomy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The three-domain system is a biological classification introduced by Carl Woese in 1990 that emphasizes his separation of prokaryotes into two groups, originally called Eubacteria and Archaebacteria. ... Phyla Actinobacteria Aquificae Chlamydiae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Lentisphaerae Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Verrucomicrobia Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are unicellular microorganisms. ... Phyla / Classes Phylum Crenarchaeota Phylum Euryarchaeota     Halobacteria     Methanobacteria     Methanococci     Methanopyri     Archaeoglobi     Thermoplasmata     Thermococci Phylum Korarchaeota Phylum Nanoarchaeota Archaea (; from Greek αρχαία, ancient ones; singular Archaeum, Archaean, or Archaeon), also called Archaebacteria (), is a major division of living organisms. ... Kingdoms Eukaryotes are organisms with complex cells, in which the genetic material is organized into membrane-bound nuclei. ... Prokaryotes (pro-KAR-ee-oht) (from Old Greek pro- before + karyon nut or kernel, referring to the cell nucleus, + suffix -otos, pl. ...

The tree of life elucidated by Woese is noteworthy for its demonstration of the overwhelming diversity of microbial lineages; single-celled organisms represent the vast majority of the biosphere's genetic, metabolic, and ecosystem niche diversity. This is surprising to some, given our familiarity with the macrobiological world. As microbes are responsible for many biogeochemical cycles and are crucial to the continued function of the biosphere, Woese's efforts to clarify the evolution and diversity of microbes provided an invaluable service to ecologists and conservationists. The field of biogeochemistry involves scientific study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment (including the biosphere, the hydrosphere, the pedosphere, the atmosphere, and the lithosphere), and the cycles of matter and energy that transport the Earths chemical...

Phylogenetic tree based on rRNA genes

The acceptance of the validity of Woese's classification was a slow and painful process. Famous figures, including Salvador Luria and Ernst Mayr, objected to his division of the prokaryotes. Not all criticism of him was restricted to the scientific level. Not without reason has Woese been dubbed "Microbiology's Scarred Revolutionary" by the journal Science. The growing amount of supporting data led the scientific community in general to accept the Archaea by the mid-1980s. A shrinking minority of scientists still adhere to outmoded conceptions of evolutionary radiation, but Woese appears to have been vindicated in his convictions. Image File history File links Phylogenetic_tree. ... Image File history File links Phylogenetic_tree. ... Salvador Edward Luria (August 13, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American microbiologist whose pioneering work on phages helped open up molecular biology. ... This article has been identified as possibly containing errors. ...

Woese also conjectured an era in which there was a considerable amount of lateral transfer of genes between organisms. Species formed when organisms stopped treating genes from other organisms with equal importance to their own genes. Lateral transfer during this period was responsible for the fast, early evolution of complex biological structures. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), also Lateral gene transfer (LGT), is any process in which an organism transfers genetic material to another cell that is not its offspring. ... This stylistic schematic diagram shows a gene in relation to the double helix structure of DNA and to a chromosome (right). ... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ...

Woese's work is also significant in terms of its implications for the search for life on other planets. Prior to Woese, Archaea were thought to be extreme organisms that had evolved from the organisms that are more familiar to us. Many scientists now believe they are ancient, and may have robust evolutionary connections to the first organisms to live on Earth. Organisms similar to those Archaea that exist in extreme environments may have found a foothold on other planets, some of which are known to harbor conditions conducive to extremophile life. An extremophile is an organism, usually unicellular, which thrives in or requires extreme conditions that would exceed optimal conditions for growth and reproduction in the majority of mesophilic terrestrial organisms. ...

Woese was a MacArthur Fellow in 1984, was made a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1988, received the Leeuwenhoek medal (microbiology's highest honor) in 1992, and was a National Medal of Science recipient in 2000. In 2003, he received the Crafoord Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 2006, he was made a foreign member of the Royal Society. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution. ... President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ... The Leeuwenhoek Medal, in 1877 by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, (KNAW), in honor of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, is granted every ten years to the scientist judged to have made the most significant contribution to microbiology during the preceding decade. ... National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science, also called the Presidential Medal of Science, is an honor given by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social... The Crafoord Prize was established in 1980 by Holger Crafoord, the inventor of the artificial kidney, and his wife Anna-Greta Crafoord. ... Foreign Member of the Royal Society is an honourary postition within the Royal Society. ...

References

1. ^ Woese C, Kandler O, Wheelis M (1990). "Towards a natural system of organisms: proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya.". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 87 (12): 4576-9. PMID 2112744. 
2. ^ Woese C, Magrum L, Fox G (1978). "Archaebacteria.". J Mol Evol 11 (3): 245-51. PMID 691075. 
3. ^ Woese C, Fox G (1977). "Phylogenetic structure of the prokaryotic domain: the primary kingdoms.". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 74 (11): 5088-90. PMID 270744. 

See also

• Karl Stetter

Karl Otto Stetter (born July 16, 1941) is a German microbiologist and astrobiologist, an expert on microbial life at the upper temperature, and one of the most important scientists currently working in this field. ...

External links

• Woese's homepage