BIOLOGISTS are about to overhaul the way in which they classify species, radically redrawing the evolutionary tree of life. Their new classification is based on the genetic make-up of species rather than their physical characteristics.
Carl Woese of the University of Illinois and his colleagues have pioneered a description of the molecular differences which define the basic divisions of life. This description has allowed them to draw the new tree of life for the first time (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 87, p 4576).
An accurate tree of life is one of the Holy Grails of biology. It is supposed to record the evolutionary history of all species, but has itself undergone repeated mutations since a version was first proposed by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1886. The new Tree could put an end to endless taxonomic arguments.
In the new classification, traditional kingdoms such as ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.