Essay On Microbial Species

Why does the controversy exist?

The study of the history of microbes is challenging in very unique ways. One of the main reasons is that there are so many “species” present. The use of quotation marks is necessary in this context, because there exist a great argument on whether or not microbial species exist. There a litanies of microbes present on earth, but microbiologist still disagree on whether or not microbial “species” exist. The argument for the concept of microbial species has been one of great debate within the scientific community over the years. The controversy begins with the idea that no two microbial cells taken from nature are exactly alike (Staley 2004). Metagenomics has made it possible to see that major diversity exist at the genetic level of microbial cells. This idea, coupled along with the complexity of microbial genetics provides a solid platform for the argument of the existence of microbial species.

What makes the concept of microbial species important?

The concept of microbial species is very important to the microbiological world. This is due to the fundamental role that microorganisms play within our world. In understanding the history of said microorganisms, we may be able to better understand their interaction with our environment. Microbes play an integral part in our world in their roles in medicine, agriculture, and industry (Brock Thus, an increased understanding may lead to more important discoveries and uses for microorganisms.

Which side of the argument is more agreeable?

At the current status of the argument, it seems more feasible to rule in opposition of the microbial species concept. I believe that that there is not enough evidence for the concept of microbial speciat...

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...built (Rossello’-Mora & Amann 2001).

The use of ribosomal RNA sequencing in the small ribosome subunit at the highest levels of taxonomy relies on the aforementioned phylogenetic concept. This method has proved invaluable in the classification of all earthly organisms into a single Tree of Life (Woes et al. 1990). The last point of emphasis in the argument for microbial speciation is the CGH. The CGH or core genome hypothesis provides a genetically based approach to applying the biological species concept to bacteria (Wertz et al. 2003).

Although there is no direct correlation between DNA-DNA similarity percent and 16S rRNA similarity for closely related organisms, comparative analysis of 16S rRNA is an efficient method for primary phylogenetic affiliation (Rossello’-Mora, Amann 2001). This may also be applied to both novel and poorly classified organisms