researchPublished 2005
Developments in genomics can aid pathogen studies
In an editorial in the September 2005 issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology, Stephan Schuster and his coauthor Gehard Gottschalk from the University of Göttingen discuss the impact and future of microbial genomics.
They point out that genomics has enabled a revolution in prokaryote taxonomy, and they anticipate that ever more sophisticated techniques will allow faster and deeper sequencing of microbial strains, species and even entire consortia. Among other things, these continuing methodological developments will help researchers characterize how bacteria evolve from free-living and commensal species to pathogenic ones.