2015 Volume 31 Issue 1 Pages 23-41
This review highlights the major milestones in the growth of the Japan Society for Microbial Systematics (JSMS) over the past 33 years from its birth at Ubako Onsen in Hakone in October 1980 to its 33rd Annual Meeting at Takayama Green Hotel in Takayama in November 2013. The history of JSMS was divided into four ages based on the name changes of the Society: “The Group Meeting of Chemotaxonomy of Microorganisms” Age (1980-1984), “The Society for Microbial Chemotaxonomy” Age (1985-1994), “The Society for Microbial Taxonomy” Age (1995-2002), and “The Japan Society for Microbial Systematics” Age (2003-2013). With changes in the dynamics of science and the development of related methodologies, the core of discussions at the respective meetings changed from microbial chemotaxonomy in the 1980s to microbial molecular taxonomy/systematics in the 1990s and 2000s. In recent meetings, the theme “How to put the genome information to practical use in microbial systematics,” which reflects the Genomics Era, was repeatedly discussed. During the past 33 years, the following were held: special lectures (34 talks, with 12 invited speakers from overseas; keynote lecture (1 talk); symposia (5 themes, 27 talks); mini-symposia (2 themes, 5 talks); theme-oriented discussions (16 themes, 26 talks); workshops (3 themes, 7 talks); oral presentations (278 talks; of these, all talks were presented in English at the 2nd meeting in 1981, 3rd meeting in 1983, 8th meeting in 1988, and 20th meeting in 2000), and poster presentations (76 titles). Furthermore, 5 talks (with 3 invited speakers from overseas) at Symposium S-1“ Current advances in the species concept problems of microorganisms ―definitions, methodologies and practical applications” in the 10th International Conference on Culture Collections (ICCC-10) in Tsukuba on October 11, 2004, are included in JSMS’s contributions. The aims and goals, including the raison d’etre, of JSMS, have been mentioned and briefly discussed in this review. In addition, the author’s opinions or impressions regarding the past 33 years of the Society, including a few future perspectives, have been presented.
