09.01.2013, 17:15 - HZI Colloquium - Wissenschaftlich
Peter Kämpfer "Taxonomy of Streptomyces - Problems and Challenges"
The genus Streptomyces comprises now around 600 species and 40 subspecies (with validated
names). Many of these species were described based on morphological and physiological /
biochemical tests and their ability to produce secondary metabolites. The genus Streptomyces may be regarded as „overclassified“ or “underclassified”. Because of the large and very flexible genomes of Streptomyces strains it is at present very difficult to identify Streptomyces species and subspecies as there are only limited data sets provided with the original descriptions. Genomics and phylogenomics may help in the future to elucidate the taxonomic (phylogenetic) structure of the genus, however, they will also bring new questions and challenges for the taxonomy of prokaryotes in general.