2004/12/10 by Tom Coenye, Dirk Gevers, Y DEPEER +2 · 222 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Probiotics and Fermented Foods #Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology #Biology #Genome #Taxonomy (biology) #Evolutionary biology #Taxonomic rank #Bacterial genome size #Bacterial taxonomy #Biological classification #Computational biology #Taxon #Phylogenetics #Genetics #Ecology #Gene #16S ribosomal RNA
paper · doi:10.1016/j.femsre.2004.11.004
published in FEMS Microbiology Reviews 29(2), 147-167 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 2004/12/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
One of the most interesting developments in the field of modern-day microbiology is the ever increasing number of whole-genome sequences that is publicly available. There is an increasing interest in the use of these genome sequences to assess evolutionary relationships among microbial taxa, as it is anticipated that much additional taxonomic information can be extracted from these sequences. In a first part of the present review, mechanisms that are responsible for the evolution of genomes will be discussed. Subsequently, we will give an overview of approaches that are presently available to assess the taxonomic relationships between prokaryotic species based on complete genome sequences, followed by a brief discussion of the potential implications of these novel approaches for bacterial taxonomy in general and our thinking about the bacterial species concept in particular.