Bacteria came in 1977 when Carl Woese recognised that archaea have a separate line of evolutionary descent from bacteria. This new phylogenetic taxonomy depended on the sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA, and divided prokaryotes into two evolutionary domains, as part of the three-domain system. Bacteria Bacteria (; common noun bacteria, singular bacterium) are a type of biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a number of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals. Bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most
Cavalier-Smith's system of classification to plants. By 1959, Robert Harding Whittaker (1920–1980) proposed that fungi, which were formerly classified as plants, be given their own kingdom. His four kingdoms of life were: Whittaker subdivided the Protista into two subkingdoms: Bacteria are fundamentally different from the eukaryotes (plants, animals, fungi, amebas, protozoa, and chromista). Eukaryotes have cell nuclei, bacteria do not. In 1969, Robert Whittaker elevated the bacteria to the status of kingdom. His new classification system divided the living world into five kingdoms: The kingdom Monera can be divided into two distinct groups: eubacteria and archaebacteria. In 1977 Carl Woese and George E. Fox