Bacterial classification has been given a consummate makeover past times a squad of University of Queensland researchers, using an evolutionary tree based on genome sequences.
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| The 'tree of life' for the bacterial world, bacteria's taxonomy inwards a phylogenetic tree [Credit: The University of Queensland] |
Professor Hugenholtz said this structure, known scientifically every bit taxonomy, helps us connect the relationships betwixt living things.
"Taxonomy helps us form living things past times arranging them inwards a hierarchy from closely to distantly related organisms according to ranks, such every bit species, genus, family, order, class, phylum as well as domain," he said.
"It's a arrangement that helps us sympathise how organisms are related to each other, only similar nosotros exercise for fourth dimension - using seconds, minutes, hours, as well as thence on - or for geographic locations, using a street number, street, suburb, province as well as country."
Professor Hugenholtz said the scientific community mostly agrees that evolutionary relationships are the most natural agency to form organisms, but bacterial taxonomy is riddled amongst errors, due to historical difficulties.
"This is mainly because microbial species convey rattling few distinctive physical features, pregnant that in that place are thousands of historically misclassified species," he said.
"It's likewise compounded past times the fact that nosotros can't nevertheless grow the groovy bulk of microorganisms inwards the laboratory, thence convey been unaware of them until quite recently."
Dr Donovan Parks, the atomic number 82 software developer on the project, is excited virtually the recent advancement of genome sequencing technology, as well as how it's helping reconstruct the bacterial tree of life.
"It's developed to a remarkable degree, as well as nosotros tin directly teach the entire genetic blueprints of hundreds of thousands of bacteria, including bacteria that convey non nevertheless been grown inwards the lab," he said.
The question squad as well as thence used these genomic blueprints to create a giant evolutionary tree of bacteria based on 120 genes that are highly conserved across the bacterial domain.
"This tree helped us create a standardised model, where nosotros fixed all of the misclassifications as well as made the evolutionary timelines betwixt bacterial groups consistent," Dr Parks said.
"For example, the genus Clostridium has been a dumping Earth for rod-shaped bacteria that reach spores within their cells, thence nosotros reclassified this grouping into 121 dissever genus groups across 29 unlike families.
"We've given bacterial classification a consummate makeover, as well as we're delighted that the scientific community is only every bit excited virtually this every bit nosotros are."
The written report has been published inwards Nature Biotechnology.
Source: University of Queensland [August 27, 2018]
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