mSphere of Influence: Rethinking microbial identity through variability

Laura Veschetti works in the field of microbial genomics and adaptation. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how the work of Marvig et al. on within-host evolution of <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i>, together with long-term evolution experiments by Lenski and colleagues, reshaped her understanding of microbial identity by framing variability as a defining biological feature rather than an exception. Drawing on concepts from population genomics, pangenomics, and regulatory heterogeneity, she discusses how focusing on evolutionary processes rather than static reference genomes has influenced her approach to studying bacterial adaptation.