New kingdom in marine fireplaces

2003/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia
• Ozeanografia

It is a unique ecosystem and rich in the hydrothermal chimneys of the marine background. Since they discovered the first in 1977, numerous investigations have been carried out in which many living things have been found that until then were not known. Among them there are very special microorganisms, so special that they deserve to be a kingdom of their own. That's what researchers who have studied believe at least.

Until now these microorganisms were classified in the Protist Kingdom. Recently, however, the DNA of the living sediments collected in the vicinity of a chimney in the central dorsal of the Atlantic has been studied, forming a phylogenetic tree. At that time, they have seen that of the microorganisms present in the sediment, at least two of the protists are genetically very different.

Consequently, they have proposed the creation of a new kingdom for its collection in the web Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It is possible, therefore, to add another to the major existing kingdoms: Monera, Protista, Fungi, Animal and Plantae.