Friday, 29 Mar 2024

Scientists discover world’s largest bacterium, the size of an eyelash

Scientists discover world’s largest bacterium, the size of an eyelash


Scientists discover world’s largest bacterium, the size of an eyelash

Scientists have discovered the world's largest known bacterium, which comes in the form of white filaments the size of human eyelashes, in a swamp in Guadeloupe.

At about 1cm long, the strange organism, Thiomargarita magnifica, is roughly 50 times larger than all other known giant bacteria and the first to be visible with the naked eye. The thin white strands were discovered on the surfaces of decaying mangrove leaves in shallow tropical marine marshes.

The discovery was a surprise because, according to models of cell metabolism, bacteria should simply not grow this big. Previously scientists had suggested an upper possible size limit about 100 times smaller than the new species.

"To put it into context, it would be like a human encountering another human as tall as Mount Everest," said Jean-Marie Volland, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who co-authored the study.

The organism was discovered by Olivier Gros, a marine biology professor at the Université des Antilles in Guadeloupe, while searching for symbiotic bacteria in the mangrove ecosystem.

"When I saw them, I thought: strange," said Gros. The lab first conducted microscopic analyses to establish that the strands were single cells. Closer inspection also revealed a strange internal structure. In most bacteria, the DNA floats around freely inside the cell. Thiomargarita magnifica appears to keep its DNA more organised inside membrane-bound compartments throughout the cell. "And this is very unexpected for a bacterium," said Volland.

The bacterium was also found to contain three times as many genes as most bacteria and hundreds of thousands of genome copies spread throughout each cell, making it unusually complex.

you may also like

Jacob Zuma Fast Facts
  • by cnn
  • 29 Mar 2024
Jacob Zuma Fast Facts
Vatican Fast Facts
  • by cnn
  • 29 Mar 2024
Vatican Fast Facts
Jacob Zuma Fast Facts
Vatican Fast Facts
Resort Casinos Likely Scuttled Under Amended Bermuda Legislation
  • by travelpulse
  • descember 09, 2016
Resort Casinos Likely Scuttled Under Amended Bermuda Legislation

Premier announces changes to long-delayed project

read more