(1)University of Illinois microbiologist Carl Woese in his proposal “Towards a natural system of organisms: Proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya” (1990) argues for that phylogenetic system at the time should be updated by expanding from kingdom to a new taxon “domain”. (2) Carl Woese provides background on how the phylogenetic tree was first created, and different branches formed, then cites his own work with microbes to explain how the three newly proposed domains are evolutionarily separate due to molecular level differences. (3) The purpose of this proposal is to present eukarya, bacteria and archaea as the overarching categories for the evolution of life now, demonstrating that on a molecular level archaea is separate from bacteria and actually closer related to eukarya. (4) Woese establishes a solid argument and therefore respect from the other scientists he is proposing this new system too.
