Recently, microbiologists have established the existence of biogeographic patterns among a
wide range of microorganisms. The focus of the field is now shifting to identifying the …

Comparisons of closely related microorganisms have shown that individual genomes can be
highly diverse in terms of gene content. In this Review, we discuss several studies showing …

The long-term effects of different fertilization regimes on the microbial functional potential of
soils involving nutrient cycling remain largely unknown. Here, metagenomic sequencing …

Ribosomal RNA genes have become the standard molecular markers for microbial
community analysis for good reasons, including universal occurrence in cellular organisms …

Arbuscular fungi have a major role in directing the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems yet
little is known about their biogeographical distribution. The Baas-Becking hypothesis …

Despite a growing appreciation of their vast diversity in nature, mechanisms of speciation
are poorly understood in Bacteria and Archaea. Here we use high-throughput genome …

Background Terrestrial hot spring settings span a broad spectrum of physicochemistries.
Physicochemical parameters, such as pH and temperature, are key factors influencing …

The extent to which non-host-associated bacterial communities exhibit small-scale
biogeographic patterns in their distribution remains unclear. Our investigation of …

The lack of a consensus bacterial species concept greatly hampers our ability to understand
and organize bacterial diversity. Operational taxonomic units (OTUs), which are clustered on …

Soil cyanobacteria are crucial components of biological soil crusts and carry out many
functions in dryland ecosystems. Despite this importance, their taxonomy and population …