Methanogens: Their Impact on our Concept of Procaryote Diversity

Abstract

Methanogenic bacteria have catalyzed a revolution in our understanding of procaryote diversity. The development of a comprehensive phylogenetic basis for viewing methanogen relationships has modified considerably our concept of both the phylogenetic and phenotypic complexity of the bacteria. It provided the basis for description of a new taxonomic scheme for the methanogenic bacteria in which a measure of phylogenetic relationships served as a framework for organizing an extensive range of syntactic features circumscribing the group. The scheme illustrates in a general way the central role that relationships can play in bacterial systematics.