A researcher at Virginia Tech has developed a novel way of classifying and naming
organisms based on their genome sequence, allowing scientists to
communicate more specifically about different species.
Currently we name species using the 'Linnaean system', developed
by Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus more than 200 years ago. The new
system doesn't replace this, merely augments it with further
information based on the genetic code of the organism.
"Genome sequencing technology has progressed immensely in recent
years and it now allows us to distinguish between any bacteria,
plant, or animal at a very low cost," said Boris Vinatzer, who put
the new scheme together. "The limitation of the Linnaeus system is
the absence of a method to name the sequenced organisms with
For example, there are more than 1,200 different strains of
anthrax (Bacillus anthracis). Each has an arbitrary name chosen by
researchers. Under Vinatzer's proposed system, these names would be
augmented with a multiple digit code that indicates how similar it
is to other strains. The details have been published in PLoS One.
However there are several practical questions over how the
scheme would be implemented. Firstly, the university has submitted
a patent for the system - meaning that anyone who wants to use it
would need to obtain a license or face the possibility of legal
Secondly, there are a number of similar competing systems
already in existence, including the Barcode of Life project -
proposed in 2003 by Paul Hebert. Adding a new one to the mix doesn't necessarily help
Finally, we wouldn't be able to apply the naming convention to
species where we don't have samples of organic matter. We might be
able to give the dodo a name, as we still have a small amount of
soft tissue preserved, but naming a species that only exists in the
fossil record would be impossible.