Classification of Archaea

The first thing I learned is that I chose a very confusing topic. Archaea classification is somewhat up in the air. A recent report of an international meeting (http://ezpolson.nmu.edu:5296/10.1016/j.resmic.2010.11.007)  it was pointed out again and again that Archaeans are more like Eukaryotes (multi-celled organisms) than they are like true bacteria. This is true in many aspects of cell function and structure/chemical makeup. Another thing I learned is that some researchers refer to groups of archeans as Phyla and others as Kingdoms.

Some of the ways Archeans differ from other bacteria are in the cell wall chemicals; DNA replication, transcription and translation; cell division; vesicle formation; and other aspects and in all these the Archaeans are very similar to Eukaryotes.

My thought: maybe bacteria are the aliens and Archeans and Eukaryotes were here first.