Life's last domain.
In what many scientists are calling a tour de force, a team of researchers report in this issue of Science (page 1058) that they9ve sequenced the entire genome of the archaeon microbe Methanococcus jannaschii. With it researchers have their first chance to compare the complete genomes of organisms from what seem to be the three major branches of life: the archaea, bacteria, and eukarya (which includes multicellular organisms such as plants and animals). A startling 44% of the archaeon9s 1700-odd genes are entirely new to science. Says one researcher: “That9s about half of the organism! It shows just how little we know about life.”