In microbiology, microorganisms may be named after well-known scientific personalities to honor them. Such eponyms are common in the natural sciences, such as pasteurization (after the microbiologist ...

Prokaryotes are the group of organisms including bacteria and archaea that do not have a membrane-bound nucleus and instead have a circular, double-stranded molecule of DNA called a nucleoid, that is ...

Most organisms use oxygen to convert food into energy. However, in environments with little or no oxygen, life found other ways to produce energy, using a process called fermentation. Fermentative ...

Every living organism falls into one of two groups: eukaryotes or prokaryotes, with cellular structure determining which group an organism belongs to. Prokaryotes are unicellular and lack a nucleus ...

Why have bacteria never evolved complex multicellularity? A new hypothesis suggests that it could come down to how prokaryotic genomes respond to a small population size. Every organism visible to the ...

DNA methylation refers to the process of adding a methyl group to specific regions of DNA. This process can bring about changes in the activity of DNA without changing the sequence of nucleotides.

Deep in hydrothermal vents beneath the Arctic Ocean, scientists have discovered an organism that sheds fresh light on the evolutionary link between simple and complex cellular life. The microbe and ...

Eukaryotes—fungi, plants, us—are complex. Our large cells are characterized by their different compartments, many of which are neatly enclosed within a boundary of membrane. These compartments contain ...

Modern eukaryotic cells have proteins that enable chromosome segregation during cell division, new discoveries shed light on their origin in simpler prokaryotic organisms. Modern nucleated (eukaryotic ...