TITLE:  The Adam-and-Eve Cells
      AUTHOR:  FIELDS, SCOTT
     JOURNAL:  Earth
    CITATION:  April, 1995: 11.
        YEAR:  1995
    PUB TYPE:  Article
 IDENTIFIERS:  SINGLE-CELL ORGANISMS; BACTERIA; PICOPLANKTON; ANTARCTICA; 
               ALASKA; RNA/ARCHAEA; OCEAN CHEMISTRY/ARCHAEA; ARCHAEA
    ABSTRACT:       New evidence shows that single-celled organisms, known 
               as Archaea or Archaebacteria, are more prevalent than once 
               believed. Discovered in the 1970s and thought to have only 
               existed in sulfurous hot springs, isolated pools of brine, 
               and wet, mucky sediment devoid of oxygen, these organisms 
               have been found in large numbers in certain parts of the 
               ocean in cold water. Archaea were among the first forms of 
               life to evolve in the ocean.
                    Biologist Edward DeLong and his colleagues analyzed 
               water drawn from the North Pacific, Antarctica, and Alaska. 
               They discovered that a third of the biomass of picoplankton 
               (the category of tiniest plankton) in Antarctica waters were 
               Archaea. The researchers also found that Archaea lived in the 
               shallows off Alaska and as deep as 3,000 ft. in the ocean.
                    The great masses of picoplankton have been undetected 
               until now because they are too small to be counted 
               individually. In the past, scientists bred picoplankton in 
               laboratories and identified them by the colonies they grew. 
               Some organisms, including Archaea, would not grow under 
               artificial conditions, therefore, scientists did not know 
               that they existed.
                    In their experiment, DeLong and his colleagues 
               pulverized cells in seawater samples and then sorted out the 
               various bacteria by the differences in their ribosomal RNA 
               (type of RNA found in ribosomes that functions in protein 
               synthesis). The scientists counted the various types of RNA 
               in their samples and found an abundance of Archaea.
                    According to Delong, Archaea may play a more important 
               role in global ecology than previously believed. Since about 
               half of the ocean's nutrients that originate from 
               photosynthesis pass through picoplankton, Archaea may have a 
               major influence on the chemistry of oceans.