Chapter 37 : Postphylogenetics

Abstract:

In this chapter on postphylogenetics, the author narrates how his lab detoured into the physiology and molecular biology of halobacteria (properly haloarchaea). Resistance to antibiotics, on the rise in hospitals around the world, was shown by Japanese microbiologists to be due to the transfer between them of small circular DNAs, called plasmids, bearing genes for such resistance. There is continuing debate about the significance of gene exchange, which is called either lateral gene transfer (LGT) or horizontal gene transfer-terms of identical meaning, but like personal computers and Macs, each with its own vigorous defenders. Phylotyping had been until now pursued as if its primary goal were the enumeration and identification of microbial species, as their distributions and abundance are influenced by biotic and abiotic forces.