Title |
Natural History, Microbes and Sequences: Shouldn't We Look Back Again to Organisms?
|
---|---|
Published in |
PLOS ONE, August 2011
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0021334 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Antonio Lazcano |
Abstract |
The discussion on the existence of prokaryotic species is reviewed. The demonstration that several different mechanisms of genetic exchange and recombination exist has led some to a radical rejection of the possibility of bacterial species and, in general, the applicability of traditional classification categories to the prokaryotic domains. However, in spite of intense gene traffic, prokaryotic groups are not continuously variable but form discrete clusters of phenotypically coherent, well-defined, diagnosable groups of individual organisms. Molecularization of life sciences has led to biased approaches to the issue of the origins of biodiversity, which has resulted in the increasingly extended tendency to emphasize genes and sequences and not give proper attention to organismal biology. As argued here, molecular and organismal approaches that should be seen as complementary and not opposed views of biology. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 7 | 47% |
Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of | 1 | 7% |
Switzerland | 1 | 7% |
Unknown | 6 | 40% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 9 | 60% |
Scientists | 5 | 33% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 7% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 4 | 6% |
Mexico | 4 | 6% |
United Kingdom | 1 | 2% |
Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of | 1 | 2% |
Denmark | 1 | 2% |
Unknown | 54 | 83% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 12 | 18% |
Student > Bachelor | 12 | 18% |
Researcher | 11 | 17% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 10 | 15% |
Professor > Associate Professor | 4 | 6% |
Other | 10 | 15% |
Unknown | 6 | 9% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 45 | 69% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 4 | 6% |
Environmental Science | 3 | 5% |
Unspecified | 1 | 2% |
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 1 | 2% |
Other | 5 | 8% |
Unknown | 6 | 9% |