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Concept
Bacterial taxonomy
Summary
Bacterial taxonomy is subfield of taxonomy devoted to the classification of bacteria specimens into taxonomic ranks.
In the scientific classification established by Carl Linnaeus, each species is assigned to a genus resulting in a two-part name. This name denotes the two lowest levels in a hierarchy of ranks, increasingly larger groupings of species based on common traits. Of these ranks, domains are the most general level of categorization. Presently, scientists classify all life into just three domains, Eukaryotes, Bacteria and Archaea.
Bacterial taxonomy is the classification of strains within the domain Bacteria into hierarchies of similarity. This classification is similar to that of plants, mammals, and other taxonomies. However, biologists specializing in different areas have developed differing taxonomic conventions over time. For example, bacterial taxonomists name types based on descriptions of strains. Zoologists among others use a type specimen instead.
Bacteria
Bacteria (prokaryotes, together with Archaea) share many common features. These commonalities include the lack a of nuclear membrane, unicellularity, division by binary-fission and generally small size. The various species can be differentiated through the comparison of on several characteristics, allowing their identification and classification. Examples include:
Phylogeny: All bacteria stem from a common ancestor and diversified since, and consequently possess different levels of evolutionary relatedness (see Bacterial phyla and Timeline of evolution)
Metabolism: Different bacteria may have different metabolic abilities (see Microbial metabolism)
Environment: Different bacteria thrive in different environments, such as high/low temperature and salt (see Extremophiles)
Morphology: There are many structural differences between bacteria, such as cell shape, Gram stain (number of lipid bilayers) or bilayer composition (see Bacterial cellular morphologies, Bacterial cell structure)
Bacteria were first observed by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1676, using a single-lens microscope of his own design.
Official source
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