Polyphase Taxonomy of Antarctic Bacteria

The phylogenetic structure of bacteria is not always consistent with the traditional classification scheme based on the phenotypic properties of bacteria. That is one of the problems of modern bacterial taxonomy. In addition, traditional methods to identify bacteria using phenotypic properties have a number of disadvantages. In recent decades, significant progress was achieved in the investigation of microbial world using molecular methods for fast identification. The aim of the study was to clarify the species status of four strains of bacteria isolated from black lichens of the cliffs of Galindez Island in the Antarctic on the basis of phenotypic and genetic analysis. Methods. Morphological and cultural properties of bacteria were studied according to generally accepted microbiological methods. Physiological and biochemical ones were investigated using test systems API Coryne and API 20E (bioMerieux SA, France), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Phylogenetic analysis was performed based on the nucleotide sequences of the 16S rRNA gene. To identify closely related species, a comparative analysis of the nucleotide sequences of 16S rRNA genes was performed using the BLAS