The species concept for prokaryotes
In: FEMS. Microbiology reviews. Wiley-Blackwell: Amsterdam. ISSN 0168-6445; e-ISSN 1574-6976, more
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| Authors | | Top |
- Rossello-Mora, R.
- Amann, R.
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| Abstract |
The species concept is a recurrent controversial issue that preoccupies philosophers as well as biologists of all disciplines. Prokaryoticspecies concept has its own history and results from a series of empirical improvements parallel to the development of the techniques ofanalysis. Among the microbial taxonomists, there is general agreement that the species concept currently in use is useful, pragmatic anduniversally applicable within the prokaryotic world. However, this empirically designed concept is not encompassed by any of the, at least,22 concepts described for eukaryotes. The species could be described as `a monophyletic and genomically coherent cluster of individualorganisms that show a high degree of overall similarity in many independent characteristics, and is diagnosable by a discriminativephenotypic property'. We suggest to refer it as a phylo-phenetic species concept. Here, we discuss the validity of the concept in use which we believe is more pragmatic in comparison with those concepts described for eukaryotes. |
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