原核生物分類学に関する最近の動向

抄録

The past 20 years have seen great progress in prokaryotic systematics. Application of genetic information such as 16S rDNA sequencing has been the greatest driving force behind these achievements. DNA–DNA hybridization is still considered a gold standard for species delineation, but phenotypic characterization (including characterization of cultural behavior characteristics) is still required for bacterial species description. In contrast, molecular approaches have brought great progress in microbial ecology. One of these advances is the analysis of microbial consortia without the need for culture. As a result, some taxonomic discordance has arisen between microbial taxonomy and microbial ecology. From this perspective, microbial ecologists have put forward suggestions for prokaryotic taxonomy. Furthermore, recent advances in sequencing technology have resulted in easy access to genomic information on microbes, even in the environment. The application of advanced bioinformatics techniques to genome sequencing now allows for a genotype-to-phenotype approach, which can reveal phenotypic information on microbes of interest without the need for culture. These amazing advances in molecular biology and informatics will provide a paradigm shift in prokaryotic taxonomy and the concept of species in the near future.