What type of methods are used in microbial systematics? Why are multiple methods used to ...

 Microbial systematics is polyphasic and uses three types of methods to identify and describe microbial species: (1) phenotypic  the observed characteristics of an organism, (2) genotypic  the genetic features of an organism, and (3) phylogenetic  the evolutionary relationship of an organism to other organisms. Phenotypic methods are important because they describe the important traits of an organism that define the organisms function and impact on humans or the environment. However, many phenotypic traits are not unique to a species, so identifying the huge number of microbial species based only on phenotypic traits is not feasible. Genetic methods complement phenotypic methods and help us quickly characterize both gene content and genetic similarity to other organisms. Lastly, phylogenetic methods help to organize microbial species in a way that is congruent with our understanding of evolution, and thus give both structure and meaning to the taxonomy of microorganisms.