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A new website has been launched which allows scientists everywhere to collaborate on the identification of bacterial strains. This new resource, described in the open access journal BMC Biology, provides a portal for electronic bacterial taxonomy.

It is surprising to me that something like this is only just happening. Why would scientists want to be doing the same research when they could all be collaborating together which would benefit not only them but everyone else in the world? It's not to say we should start some sort of medical wiki where just anyone can post, but you know the saying "two heads are better than one".

The approach being used is called multilocus sequence analysis; MLSA. A strain database can be produced and combined with software that allows query strains to be assigned to species via the internet.

The authors point out that the assignment of strains to known species and the identification and acceptance of new species cannot be completely automated, as it requires the experience, knowledge and judgment of taxonomists. They say, "We hope that those interested in a particular taxonomic group can share their experience and knowledge to provide a consensual approach to deciding whether new sequence clusters should be assigned as new species."

BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.

SOURCE

Labels: bacteria, collaboration, research