Question

Which of the following can differentiate Archaea and Eubacteria?
A.Cell wall component
B.Absence or presence of nuclear membrane
C.Absence or presence of rRNA
D.Absence or presence of cell membrane

Answer 1

Hint: Bacteria or Eubacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya are the three domains of life. The eubacteria and Archaea belong to prokaryotes including microorganisms, however, Archaea are more closely related to the Eukaryotes than to the Eubacteria, and the Eukarya contains plants, animals, fungi, and protists.

Complete step by step answer:Archaea is single-cell microorganisms that can live in extreme conditions like hot springs, salt brine, ocean depth while Eubacteria or Bacteria are single-cell microorganisms found anywhere in soil, water, etc. The cell wall of Eubacteria consists of peptidoglycan with muramic acid or lipopolysaccharides while the cell wall of Archae is made up of pseudopeptidoglycan.
Even though Archaea are more closely related to Eukaryotes both Archaea and Eubacteria lack a nuclear membrane and membrane-bound organelles. The small subunit of the ribosome has 16S rRNA in both Archaea and Eubacteria and the large unit has 23S and 5S rRNA in both Archaea and Eubacteria. Both Archaea and Eubacteria have lipid cell membranes but Archaea have ether bonds with the branching of aliphatic acids in their lipid membrane and Eubacteria have a lipid membrane of ester bonds with fatty acids.
Hence, the correct answer is an option (A) as the cell wall components of both Archae and Eubacteria are different.

Additional information:
Archae does not have glycolysis or Krebs’s cycle as their main metabolic pathways but has similar pathways whereas Eubacteria have glycolysis and Krebs’s cycle as their main metabolic pathways for glucose breakdown. Methanogens, Halophiles, Thermacidophiles are categories of Archae, and Gram-positive and Gram-negative are the types of Eubacteria or Bacteria.

Note:Archaea reproduce asexually by binary fission, fragmentation, or by the budding process whereas, Eubacteria or Bacteria can produce spores, also Archae are non-pathogens, unlike some bacteria.