Pectobacterium and Dickeya: Taxonomy and Evolution

The taxonomy of soft rot Pectobacteriaceae (SRP) has been in a state of flux for the last century. With the advent of genomic technologies, there has been a flurry of new species just in the last 2 years and no doubt new ones will emerge in the future. Nevertheless, the use of these methods has greatly advanced our understanding of the relationships between these organisms and allowed ambiguities to be resolved. It is therefore hoped that the rate of change we have seen over the last century will begin to slow. This chapter provides an overview of the latest taxonomy of SRP, gives an overview of the recent genomic techniques being used and discusses how evolution, including through bacteriophage infection, has shaped the genome and ultimately the taxonomy of this group of organisms.