Inventory of new microbial taxa from Iran

Abstract

Microorganisms constitute more than half of the Earth's biomass and in addition to quantity,<br />they represent great diversity. In January 2013, the number of officially registered names for<br />prokaryotic microorganisms at the genus and species levels were, respectively, approximately<br />2100 and 12000. Current authorized methods for classification and identification of new<br />microbial taxa are polyphasic approaches which make use of a codified set of characteristics<br />for classification of microorganisms. Here, we present a brief overview of criteria by which<br />prokaryotes are classified and subsequently summarize some recent findings on the microbial<br />flora of Iran. Among all microbial taxa identified to date, six taxa at the genus level and 24<br />taxa at the species level were first discovered in and reported from Iran. This attests to the<br />existence of a rich microbial diversity in Iran. Among the species, four belong to the Archaea<br />and the others belong to the Bacteria domain. The bacterial taxa consist of six Gram- negative<br />species within Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes phylems and 20 Gram-positive taxa that<br />are among the Actinobacteria, Firmicutes and related organisms. It is incumbent that further<br />focus be placed on the rich ecological diversity of Iran, and it is expected that this will result<br />in identification of new endemic microorganisms.