microbiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microbes, examining their biology, diversity, and interactions with other living systems. In plant science, microbiology is essential for understanding how soil and root-associated microbes influence nutrient uptake, growth, and stress resilience, as well as how pathogens cause disease. Insights from this field inform strategies for improving crop health, sustainable agriculture, and plant-microbiome engineering.
open_in_new WikipediaOpenAlex · 2026-07-17
Scientists discovered a completely new type of bacteria living in pig gut waste, so distinct from known microbes that it required creating a brand-new genus to classify it.
The new bacteria share only 92.2% similarity in a key gene marker with their closest known relative, well below the threshold for being the same species
DNA comparison tests (average nucleotide identity) showed just 67.0% to 68.8% similarity to related Lachnospiraceae family members, confirming a new genus
The strains have a genomic G+C content of 46.8-47.0 mol% and were deposited in three international culture collections for future study