Archaea with square cells |
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Authors: | Walsby Anthony E |
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Institution: | School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK BS8 1UG. A.E.Walsby@bristol.ac.uk |
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Abstract: | Two groups of microbiologists have independently isolated 'Walsby's square bacterium' from salt crystallizer ponds; its growth depends on pyruvate. Genetic analysis shows that the squares, discovered 25 years ago on the Sinai Peninsula, are archaea rather than bacteria. These transparent tile-like cells might have been dismissed as surface artefacts of salt crystals but for their gas vesicles--structures peculiar to prokaryotic organisms. Paradoxically, the square archaea are the dominant microorganisms in some hypersaline environments and might be globally important. |
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