= Three-domain system
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The <three-domain system> recognizes <bacteria>, <archaea> and <eukaryotes> as three domains. In 1990, Woese, Kandler and Wheelis proposed the domain rank and the names Bacteria, Archaea and Eucarya, using molecular comparisons to argue that the older <prokaryote>/<eukaryote> division hid important differences. See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2112744/[Woese, Kandler and Wheelis, 1990: Towards a natural system of organisms].
The associated three-domain ancestry model places the nuclear lineage of <eukaryotes> alongside <archaea>, rather than within them. This historically influential interpretation should be distinguished from the <two-domain system>; listing three familiar groups does not establish three independent primary branches.
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