Catching up bacterial diversity

Nature’s largest genetic diversity repository resides in bacteria. Bacteria have revealed a dramatic size flexibility and gene mobility. The microbiome-host relationship has taught us examples where the microbiome is different between health and disease. Most of the microbiome studies are based in sequencing amplicons of 16S rRNA gene; bacteria species are named after this gene analysis. However, the biological and evolutionary significance of the bacteria species is questioned as it does not reflect the genomic diversity. Bacteriologists need to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of 16S and metagenomes. Pan-genomes are emerging solution to bind metabolic and taxonomic diversity in bacteria.