Government Scientists Discover Biggest Bacteria Ever, Visible To Naked Eye (vice.com) 26
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Scientists have discovered a bacteria with cells that measure a full centimeter in length, an astonishing size that makes it by far the largest bacterial species ever found and even "challenges our concept of a bacterial cell," reports a new study. Bacteria are an extraordinarily diverse group of organisms that have inhabited Earth for billions of years and have evolved to occupy a dizzying variety of niches. Still, almost all of these microbes are composed of simple cells that measure about two microns in diameter, which is about 40 times smaller than a strand of human hair.
Thiomargarita magnifica, a bacteria discovered on sunken red mangrove leaves in Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles, has blown this standard scale out of the water. The species has evolved filamentary cells that are "larger than all other known giant bacteria by ~50-fold," making them "visible to the naked eye," according to a study published on Thursday in Science. Scientists led by Jean-Marie Volland, a marine biologist who holds joint appointments at the Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a U.S. Department of Energy office at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, suspect that this record-breaking adaptation is partly due to the astonishing number of duplicated genes wielded by T. magnifica, an ability that is known as polyploidy. [...]
The results revealed that these bacteria contain DNA clusters in their cells, which are located in compartments bordered by membranes that the team called "pepins." These organized pepins provide a stark contrast to the free-floating DNA seen in the cells of most bacteria. In addition, the team's genetic sequencing revealed that T. magnifica contains hundreds of thousands of genome copies that are dispersed across the cell, adding up to about three times the number of genes in most bacteria, which is an extreme example of polyploidy. "These cellular features likely allow the organism to grow to an unusually large size and circumvent some of the biophysical and bioenergetic limitations on growth," Volland and his colleagues said.
Thiomargarita magnifica, a bacteria discovered on sunken red mangrove leaves in Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles, has blown this standard scale out of the water. The species has evolved filamentary cells that are "larger than all other known giant bacteria by ~50-fold," making them "visible to the naked eye," according to a study published on Thursday in Science. Scientists led by Jean-Marie Volland, a marine biologist who holds joint appointments at the Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a U.S. Department of Energy office at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, suspect that this record-breaking adaptation is partly due to the astonishing number of duplicated genes wielded by T. magnifica, an ability that is known as polyploidy. [...]
The results revealed that these bacteria contain DNA clusters in their cells, which are located in compartments bordered by membranes that the team called "pepins." These organized pepins provide a stark contrast to the free-floating DNA seen in the cells of most bacteria. In addition, the team's genetic sequencing revealed that T. magnifica contains hundreds of thousands of genome copies that are dispersed across the cell, adding up to about three times the number of genes in most bacteria, which is an extreme example of polyploidy. "These cellular features likely allow the organism to grow to an unusually large size and circumvent some of the biophysical and bioenergetic limitations on growth," Volland and his colleagues said.
Named (Score:3)
They've named it Bacillus Chungus
Dupe? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
The preprint got a Slashdot article, and now the official publication in Science gets an article.
Re: Dupe? (Score:1)
Big? More like long? (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
This appears to be the only bacteria known to be visible to the naked eye. That makes it the biggest in the set, and therefore big.
It's big.
Re: (Score:2)
These things are both big AND long, compared to their microscopic bretheren. Even though they look hairlike, the thickness of these "hairs" is gargantuan compared to regular bacteria.
Re: (Score:2)
You know, back before Slashdot was on life support and its family was squabbling over the will, a line like that wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes without a ribald response.
I weep for the future.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Probably speaks volumes about my intelligence or my current level of inebriation, but I had to Google that joke to get it, and it's more obscure than you'd think. Pretty good, though.
And no, I'm not explaining it, future reader, you can Google it like I did.
"Future reader." - Who am I kidding? This is the long goodbye, Zombie Slashdot.
Re: Big? More like long? (Score:2)
therefor the aspect ratio is massive.
Big enough to be seen by the naked eye is HUGE (Score:1)
Gesundheit (Score:3)
Ewww!
A few billion years... (Score:1)
The naked eye (Score:2)
One arcminute is typically quoted as the resolving power of the human eye. If you're holding something 8 inches from your face, then that's a spot about 50 microns across. Or roughly half the width of a typical human hair.
Are there any other bacteria that are roughly that big? Yeah:
https://largest.org/animals/ba... [largest.org]
Re: (Score:1)
So does that mean.. (Score:2)
Does that mean we can also watch bacterial cell division with our naked eyes?
Kinda weird, but also kinda neat..
BBQ? (Score:2)
A centimetre long? (Score:2)
You could flash fry these things and serve them as an hors d'oeuvre.
Known Space (Score:3)
Bandersnatchi!
Better images (Score:4, Informative)
Some better images here:
https://www.theguardian.com/sc... [theguardian.com]