Identification methods and DNA fingerprinting: whole genome sequencing
Résumé
This chapter gives a brief overview of the currently available bacterial genome sequences and presents various DNA fingerprinting examples using whole genome sequencing, including analysis of bacterial functions aiming at improving food production processes or at fighting unwanted microorganisms, DNA fingerprinting of bacterial strains or species, species or cells genome sequence reconstruction, and DNA fingerprinting of ecosystems by metagenomics. These examples show the impact of such studies on our view of the microbial world, by revealing its huge genomic diversity, giving access to previously uncultured or unknown species, and even questioning the bacterial species definition.