Whitepaper: Bacterial identification database

This whitepaper examines the Eurofins Microbial Sequencing Index (EMSI) database which contains over 9,000 full gene sequences of type strains and explains why reliable analytical methods are so vital in microbiology…

The scientific approach to bacterial identification testing is to compare characteristics of an unknown organism to a collection of known bacteria, the most homologuous known bacteria being assumed to be the putative matching identification. The bacterial species is the ultimate group (taxon) encompassing individuals with defined common traits. Hence, very early, microbiologists, set up databases of known bacteria’s traits. The challenge lies in the countless number of bacteria, the number of traits, the representativity of included species and the comprehensiveness of the database in order to generate the most accurate identification.