The ecological coherence of high bacterial taxonomic ranks

Philippot, Laurent; Andersson, Siv G E; Battin, Tom J; Prosser, James I; Schimel, Joshua P; Whitman, William B; Hallin, Sara Gates

doi:10.1038/nrmicro2367

Research article2010Peer reviewed

The ecological coherence of high bacterial taxonomic ranks

Philippot, Laurent; Andersson, Siv G E; Battin, Tom J; Prosser, James I; Schimel, Joshua P; Whitman, William B; Hallin, Sara Gates

Abstract

The species is a fundamental unit of biological organization, but its relevance for Bacteria and Archaea is still hotly debated. Even more controversial is whether the deeper branches of the ribosomal RNA-derived phylogenetic tree, such as the phyla, have ecological importance. Here, we discuss the ecological coherence of high bacterial taxa in the light of genome analyses and present examples of niche differentiation between deeply diverging groups in terrestrial and aquatic systems. The ecological relevance of high bacterial taxa has implications for bacterial taxonomy, evolution and ecology.

Published in

Nature Reviews Microbiology
2010, volume: 8, number: 7, pages: 523-529
Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

SLU Authors

Hallin, Sara
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

UKÄ Subject classification

Microbiology
Ecology

Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2367

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/61113