The 21st biennial meeting of the Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Diversity Group of the Spanish Society for Microbiology took place from September 24 to 26, featuring five scientific sessions at the Joan Plaça Auditorium in the Botanical Garden.
The opening lecture was delivered by Maria Dzunkova, who spoke on novel bacterial phyla in environments with extreme anthropogenic contamination. Héctor Carmona-Salido’s presentation focused on the genomic plasticity and expansion of Vibrio vulnificus in the context of climate change, while Fernando González Candelas addressed the intra- and inter-hospital evolution of Candidozyma auris. Finally, during the closing session, Cristina Galisteo—winner of the 2024–2025 Best Doctoral Thesis Award—discussed prokaryotic diversity in the hypersaline soils of the Marismas del Odiel Natural Area. During the closing ceremony, three awards were presented for the best oral presentations given by pre-doctoral students:
• The Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Diversity Specialist Group Award to Marc Crespo Carretero (University of the Balearic Islands) for the talk "Taxonomic and phylogenetic exploration of endophytic bacteria of the family Erwiniaceae for the identification of isolates with antagonistic potential against Xylella fastidiosa"
• The International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology Award to Nidia Pérez García (University of Granada) for the talk "Taxonomic analysis and study of antibiotic resistance genes in a pediatric population through the reconstruction of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs)"
• The American Society for Microbiology Award to Andreu Albalat Queralt (European University of Andalusia) for the talk "Towards a unified taxonomic framework for eukaryotic viruses"
The 22nd edition will be held at the University of Seville in 2028.
