Taxonomic resolution of the ribosomal RNA operon in bacteria: Implications for its use with long read sequencing

Long-read sequencing technologies enable capture of the full-length of ribosomal RNA operons in a single read. Bacterial cells usually have multiple copies of this ribosomal operon; sequence variation within a species of bacterium can exceed variation between species. For uncultured organisms this may affect the overall taxonomic resolution, to genus level, of the full-length ribosomal operon.