Title :

The Challenges of Tracking Microbial Species

Description :

Cataloging Microbial Diversity. What’s in a Name? The Challenges of Tracking Microbial Species. Prokaryotic systematics is a dynamic field. The rate at which new species, genera, and higher taxa are described in the literature has increased dramatically since the 1990s, driven largely by advances in sequencing technology. Even with all this progress, scientists believe that 99% of the microbial world has yet to be discovered. Just how many species (and genera) of Bacteria and Archaea are listed in Bergey’s Manual, a widely used international reference for taxonomy? It seems a simple question, but, at present, the number of named species actually exceeds by about 22% the true number of species having official standing in the nomenclatural record. An explanation follows. Many taxa bear two or more names, because when species or higher taxa are reassigned to existing or newly created taxa, both the new name and the old name are valid (in the original published context). Other types of nomenclatural synonyms exist as well. As a result, about 6900 species are listed in Bergey’s, with information and data published in accordance with The International Code of Bacterial Nomenclature. The true number of named prokaryotes, however, is closer to 5700. [Source: George Garrity, Bergey’s Manual]

Citation :

Genomics:GTL Roadmap, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, August 2005, http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/roadmap/

Credit or Source :

Adapted from a drawing by George Garrity, Bergey's Manual. Source: Genome Management Information System, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Hi Res :

High-Resolution Image