[History of the study of biodiversity of photosynthesizing bacteria]

The tendencies in the study of anoxygenic photosynthesizing bacteria (APB) are considered in the review in the historical aspect, since APB discovery till present day. The contribution made by the researchers of the Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, to the study of the phylogeny, ecology, and morphophysiological diversity of APB is noted. At present, the molecular-biological approaches play a decisive role in ecology and taxonomy. The most important task at the modem stage of the development of microbiology is to maintain the continuity of the historically formed classical approaches in the study of APB diversity.