Species is the basic unit of biological diversity. However, among the different microbiological
disciplines there is an important degree of disagreement as to what this unit may be. In this …

The polyphasic approach used today in the taxonomy and systematics of the Bacteria and
Archaea includes the use of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic data. The use of …

The class Alphaproteobacteria is comprised of a diverse assemblage of Gram-negative
bacteria that includes organisms of varying morphologies, physiologies and habitat …

Blood in healthy organisms is seen as a 'sterile'environment: it lacks proliferating microbes.
Dormant or not-immediately-culturable forms are not absent, however, as intracellular …

Fungal taxonomy and ecology have been revolutionized by the application of molecular
methods and both have increasing connections to genomics and functional biology …

Bacteroides, an abundant genus in the intestines of mammals, has been recently
considered as the next generation probiotics (NGP) candidate due to its potential role in …

The increasing popularity of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) DNA metabarcoding
warrants a careful look at the underlying reference databases used to make high-throughput …

The family Chlamydiaceae with the recombined single genus Chlamydia currently
comprises nine species, all of which are obligate intracellular organisms distinguished by a …

Type material is the taxonomic device that ties formal names to the physical specimens that
serve as exemplars for the species. For the prokaryotes these are strains submitted to the …

Members of the phylum Bacteroidetes, which was originally defined as a monophyletic
branch encompassing the genera Cytophaga, Flavobacterium and Bacteroides (CFB), are …