From Sukanya Charuchandra at The Scientist:
Two species of yeast, one of which is used in the biotechnology and food industries to make bioethanol and sourdough bread, while the other causes yeast infections, have been found to be one and the same, according to research published in PLOS Pathogens today (July 19). And, the researchers report, fungi from both settings are similarly resistant to antifungal drugs.
The differences in the appearance of the sexual and asexual forms of the species and the underdeveloped nature of molecular methods were likely responsible for the varying names of the same organism. “It’s too common in fungi,” says Antonis Rokas, a comparative fungal genomics expert at Vanderbilt University who was not involved in this study. However, things are changing, with greater efforts being made “to use as many lines of evidence as we can” when identifying a fungal species. More.
The concept of a “species,” as in On the Origin of Species, may well be in itself a dated idea, especially where fast-reproducing unicellular life forms are concerned. A measure that capture fluidity is needed.
See also: Study: Species are “compact clusters in the vastness of empty sequence space.”
Monkeys more closely related to sister species than same species in different locations?
Endangered giant Chinese salamander is at least five different “species”
and
Nothing says “Darwin snob” like indifference to the mess that the entire concept of speciation is in.