While taxonomy is an often-unappreciated branch of science it serves very important roles. Bacteriophage taxonomy has evolved from a mainly morphology-based discipline, characterized by the work of David Bradley and Hans-Wolfgang Ackermann, to the holistic approach that is taken today. The Bacterial and Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) takes a comprehensive approach to classifying prokaryote viruses measuring overall DNA and protein identity and phylogeny before making decisions about the taxonomic position of a new virus. The huge number of complete genomes being deposited with NCBI and other public databases has resulted in a reassessment of the taxonomy of many viruses, and the future will see the introduction of new viral families and higher orders.
CITATION STYLE
Tolstoy, I., Kropinski, A. M., & Brister, J. R. (2018). Bacteriophage taxonomy: An evolving discipline. In Methods in Molecular Biology (Vol. 1693, pp. 57–71). Humana Press Inc. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7395-8_6
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.