Recent Developments in Systematics and Their Implications for Plant Pathogenic Bacteria

Abstract

The systematics of bacteria is at a fascinating stage; the past fifteen years have seen a revolution in the concepts guiding bacterial classification and identification. As bacteria have been investigated using an ever wider range of methods, they are increasingly shown to be diverse in character, making them less amenable to grouping in taxonomic hierarchies. New methods allow the recognition of distinct populations, but they do not necessarily permit easy identification of isolates or their allocation to appropriate taxa. A historical perspective was given in Young et al. (1992) and a recent review (Vandamme et al., 1996) gives a survey of current methods used in systematics. The present account takes as its points of departure the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names (Skerman et al., 1980) and the review of Young et al. (1992). It focuses on the major trends in systematics with special reference to plant pathogenic bacteria, and attempts to indicate their major consequences for plant pathologists.