In
biological taxonomy, a
domain (also
superregnum,
superkingdom, or
empire) is the highest
taxonomic rank of
organisms, higher than a
kingdom. According to the
three-domain system of
Carl Woese, introduced in
1990, the
Tree of Life consists of the following three domains:
Archaea,
Bacteria and
Eukarya. The arrangement of
taxa reflects the fundamental evolutionary differences in the
genomes.
There are some alternative classifications of
life:
As these groupings depend primarily on the analysis of genetic sequence data and cladistics, additional proposed arrangements are to be expected.
See also