Bacterial evolution

CR Woese - Microbiological reviews, 1987 - Am Soc Microbiol
CR Woese
Microbiological reviews, 1987Am Soc Microbiol
A revolution is occurring in biology: perhaps it is better characterized as a revolution within a
revolution. I am, of course, referring to the impact that the increasingly rapid capacity to
sequence nucleic acids is having on a science that has already been radically transformed
by molecular ap-proaches and concepts. While the impact is currently great-est in genetics
and applied areas such as medicine and biotechnology, its most profound and lasting effect
will be on our perception of evolution and its relationship to the rest of biology. The cell is …
A revolution is occurring in biology: perhaps it is better characterized as a revolution within a revolution. I am, of course, referring to the impact that the increasingly rapid capacity to sequence nucleic acids is having on a science that has already been radically transformed by molecular ap-proaches and concepts. While the impact is currently great-est in genetics and applied areas such as medicine and biotechnology, its most profound and lasting effect will be on our perception of evolution and its relationship to the rest of biology. The cell is basically an historical document, and gaining the capacity to read it (by the sequencing of genes) cannot but drastically alter the way we look at all of biology. No discipline within biology will be more changed by this revolution than microbiology, for until the advent of molec-ular sequencing, bacterial evolution was not a subject that could be approached experimentally. With any novel scientific departure it is important to understand the historical setting in which it arises-the paradigm it will change. Old prejudices tend to inhibit, distort, or otherwise shape new ideas, and historical analysis helps to eliminate much of the negative impact of the status quo. Stch analysis is particularly importaht in the present instance since microbiologists do not deal with evolutionary considerations as a matter of course and so tend not to appreciate them. Therefore, I begin this discussion with a brief look at how the relationship between microbiology and evolution (ie, the lack thereof) developed.
American Society for Microbiology