Image: Three Kingdoms of Life
Based on
sequence analyses of the 16 S ribosomal <!g>RNA gene, which is contained in all
Earthly organisms, it is possible to construct a molecular phylogeny that can
quantitatively compare all organisms, even those that can not be cultivated in
the laboratory. Such an approach
has yielded quite a different view of life, as shown here, in which the major
kingdoms of life (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) shown in Figure 3, are
grouped into one kingdom, and the <!g>prokaryotes are expanded into two kingdoms,
called the Archaea and the Bacteria.
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