It is commonly thought that bacterial species borders tend to be fuzzy, due to frequent exchange of DNA. Here, Diop et al. quantify the patterns of gene flow between core genomes across 50 major bacterial lineages, showing that defining species using a framework inspired by the Biological Species Concept allows to identify clear species borders in most lineages.
- Awa Diop
- Gavin M. Douglas
- Louis-Marie Bobay
