Bacteria, you know, have many varieties and are found in almost every environment. While research on bacteria continues to surprise us all, new bacterial species continue to be discovered. In fact, although its name has a bad connotation, bacteria actually help us in many areas. E.g; The bacteria-filled lake in Costa Rica gives us information about Mars, or the bacteria that continue to live in the concrete play a big role in beating concrete cancer.
In our daily life, we get help from bacteria, such as making milk yogurt or making it easier to digest. Of course, although some bacteria help in the treatment of diseases, others can cause diseases. One thing all bacteria had in common was that they were invisible to the naked eye. According to a new study, a new species of these single-celled creatures that we can only see under a microscope, ‘visible to the naked eye’, has been discovered.
Nearly the size of a peanut
Discovered in the Caribbean mangroves, this bacterial species aroused excitement and curiosity in the scientific world. Many scientists said that this discovery upsets the knowledge about the sizes that bacteria can reach. Olivier Gros, a marine biologist working at the University of the Antilles, saw a thread-like object on the decaying leaves of the Caribbean mangroves, and realized exactly 5 years later that the things he compared to this thread were a type of bacteria. According to the article published in BioRxiv, the bacterium is 5000 times larger than most bacteria and is almost the size of a peanut.
This bacterium, on which research was conducted, surprised scientists not only with its size but also with its structure. The bacterium has a giant membrane-enclosed genome similar to those found in complex cells in the human body. The bacterium, which looked like a thread when viewed from the outside, was observed to have a curved appearance like a caterpillar or worm when examined under a microscope.
Scientists divide living things into eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Prokaryotes include bacteria and protozoa called archaea, while eukaryotes host many other living species, including humans. The DNA of prokaryotes travels freely, while the DNA of eukaryotes is contained within a nucleus. This newly discovered bacterium has caused scientists to rethink the definitions of eukaryote and prokaryote. The bacterium, which cannot be placed in either living species, contains 3 times more genes than a normal bacterium.
Marine Biologist Jean-Marrie Volland shared a 3D video of the bacterium on his Twitter account
Other images of the bacterium are as follows:
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