Eukaryote

Epic card · No. 10340

The eukaryotes () are cellular organisms of the domain Eukaryota or Eukarya, which have a distinct cell nucleus (formed by a nuclear membrane), membrane-bound organelles and organization supported by a cytoskeleton. Extant eukaryotes are traditionally grouped into four kingdoms: animals, plants, fungi and protists. "Protists" are a basal paraphyletic group that includes all algae, amoebae, flagellates and ciliates; however, this is now considered a wastebasket taxon and has been replaced with newer classifications that better represent the phylogeny of these organisms. As part of the prevailing three-domain system, eukaryotes constitute a major group of organisms alongside the two domains of prokaryotes: Bacteria and Archaea. Cladistically, eukaryotes emerged within the archaeal phylum Promethearchaeota, colloquially also known as "Asgard archaea". Ignoring mitochondrial DNA (which comes from a bacterial lineage rather than an archaeal one), this would imply only two domains of life,...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Daniel Vaulot, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CC BY-SA 2.5