ISSN:
1432-1432
Keywords:
Bacteria
;
Species
;
Sequence space
;
Cytochromec
;
Azurin
;
Pseudomonas
;
Rhodospirillaceae
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Abstract Despite the revolution caused by information from macromolecular sequences, the basis of bacterial classification remains the genus and the species. How do these terms relate to the variety of bacteria that exist on earth? In this paper, the inter- and intraspecies differences in amino acid sequence of several bacterial electron transport proteins, cytochromesc, and blue copper proteins are compared. For the soil and water organisms studied, bacterial species can be classed as “tight” when there is little intraspecies variation, or “loose” when this variation is large. For this set of proteins and organisms, interspecies variation is much larger than that within a species. Examples of “tight” species arePseudomonas aeruginosa andRhodobacter sphaeroides, whilePseudomonas stutzeri andRhodopseudomonas palustris are loose species. The results are discussed in the context of the origin and age of bacterial species, and the distribution of genomes in “sequence space.” The situation is probably different for commensal or pathogenic bacteria, whose population structure and evolution are linked to the properties of another organism.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02338795
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