Decoding archaea: The often forgotten third domain of life

All cellular organisms of the world are classified into three domains of life. It is unusual and quite surprising that most people, in general, are familiar with two domains of life (bacteria and eucarya), but not the third one (archaea). The reasons archaea are relatively unknown can be traced back to several factors. Unlike the other two domains, archaea were discovered only a few decades back (1977) and for a long time, they were mistakenly identified as bacteria. Moreover, we pay more attention to species that are either useful or harmful to us. Here lies the mystery with archaea. Even after almost 50 years since their discovery, we still have not understood the roles archaea play in our physiology, despite being a significant component of the microbial composition in our body. Though several benefits and health conditions have been linked with the archaeal species, no direct evidence has been obtained connecting archaea with the origin of any disease. This is a staggering observation in contrast with other well-known microbes. This article aims to explore answers about the roles of archaea and their potential pathogenic behaviour (or the lack of it) based on the research findings from the last 50 years.