ABSTRACT
The universal use of nucleic acids and how genetic information is stored, replicated, and decoded argues for a common evolutionary origin of all current life forms. In this chapter, we will focus on bacteria and archaea and discuss the common principles that govern the organization, propagation, and expression of their genetic information. Irrespective of the high degree of conservation in the essential processes underlying the flow of genetic information, evolutionary adaptations have led to distinct variations in the different domains of life. For example, the mechanisms of transcription and translation in eukaryotes are more similar to those in archaea than to those in bacteria, highlighting archaea as the host for the endosymbiosis that led to the evolution of eukaryotic cells, containing mitochondria.
