Related Experiment Videos
Opinion: Re-evaluating prokaryotic species.
Dirk Gevers1, Frederick M Cohan, Jeffrey G Lawrence
1Laboratory of Microbiology and the Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Genomics Research Group, Ghent University/VIB, Ghent, Belgium. dirk.gevers@UGent.be
Nature Reviews. Microbiology
|September 3, 2005
Summary
Defining prokaryotic species remains challenging due to rapid discovery of microbial diversity. New multilocus sequence analysis offers a promising approach for robust prokaryotic systematics and species delineation.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Taxonomy
- Genomics
Background:
- The concept of species for prokaryotes is not well-established, relying on phenotypic or genomic similarity measures.
- Current methods struggle to classify the vast diversity of prokaryotes being discovered.
- Advances in microbial population genetics, ecology, and genomics are transforming prokaryotic taxonomy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review classical prokaryotic species definition methods.
- To discuss the impact of multilocus nucleotide-sequence-based approaches on prokaryotic systematics.
- To explore the potential and challenges of defining species based on sequence clusters.
Main Methods:
- Review of classical taxonomic approaches for prokaryotes.
- Analysis of multilocus nucleotide-sequence-based methods.
- Consideration of sequence clusters for species assignment.
Main Results:
- Classical methods for prokaryotic species definition are inadequate for current diversity levels.
- Multilocus sequence analysis presents a significant advancement in prokaryotic systematics.
- Assigning species status to sequence clusters faces both potential and difficulties.
Conclusions:
- There is a critical need for improved prokaryotic species definition methods.
- Multilocus sequence-based approaches are crucial for future prokaryotic systematics.
- Further research is needed to effectively utilize sequence data for species delineation.