Chapter 14 Continuing Importance of the “Phenotype” in the Genomic Era

Publication date: 2014 Source:Methods in Microbiology, Volume 41 Author(s): Peter Kämpfer With the growing importance of whole-genome sequence data in the classification and identification of prokaryotes, i.e., the “genotype”, the importance of the phenotype seems to become less and less important. However, the phenotype, i.e., the entity of expressed information, is the driving force of evolution both in a given cellular context and in the environmental context. The information laid down in single genes, gene clusters and genomes may only be “visible” in a more or less “complex environment”, with the cell or cell associations as the basic entity/entities representing an organism. Improved culture media formulation and cultivation conditions that more closely mimic natural conditions are urgently needed for a detailed analysis of new roles and functions of micro-organisms. At present, only pure culture studies are able to fulfil the requirements for the study of microbial physiology with regard to the roles of genes, proteins, and metabolic pathways and pure cultures, notably type cultures, are still a prerequisite in the taxonomic system. New developments in this area are lagging behind the new insights into genomics. However, prokaryotic systematics should also have its focus, in the future, on the whole organism as the basic entity, including information on genomes and/or “genomic potential” laid down in genome sequence data. If the aim of prokaryotic...
Source: Methods in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research