Yeast Taxonomy

Preview this chapter:

Yeast Taxonomy, Page 1 of 1

< Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/9789815051063/chap3-1.gif

The massive parallel sequencing technology, applied to the taxonomy of microorganisms, has been affecting the traditional phenotypic and molecular phylogenies based on the sequence of a single gene or a small handful of genes. The exponential accumulation of new, entire genome sequences of microorganisms in public databases in recent years, especially in the fields of taxonomic and biotechnology, is driving a conceptual revolution in the way of understanding the concepts of species in microorganisms in general and fungi in particular. The problems of drawing species boundaries, reclassification of species, discovering new taxa and clades, recognizing synonyms, and new species for science can now be addressed with genomic approaches. Derived from all this, much more robust high-resolution phylogenies, based on core genomes or broad collections of genes and their deduced proteins, are currently being reconstructed. Although this effort is still far from being a canon in the taxonomy of yeasts, it will gradually turn into a change and challenge that researchers are taking into account due to the great power and reliability of these genomic approaches and bioinformatics tools. Likewise, the complete sequence of the genomes of the strains of microorganisms of industrial or biotechnological interest will allow limiting biopiracy, help protect patents, recognize the appellation of origin, discourage violations of intellectual property rights, and resolve conflicts over the rights of the commercial exploitation of microorganisms. In this chapter, an effort is made to compare conventional taxonomy techniques with the latest work involving genomic sciences as a key tool in yeast taxonomy.