Wednesday, March 22, 2023
  • Contact Us
The Caribbean Post
Advertisement
  • Current News
    • Politics
    • Business
  • Tech News
  • Education
  • Entertainment
    • Travel
    • Lifestyle
  • Health
    • Recipes
  • World
    • Antigua
    • Aruba
    • Barbados
    • Barbuda
    • Dominica
    • Dominican Republic
    • Guadeloupe
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Jamaica
    • St Lucia
    • Suriname
    • Tobago
    • Trinidad
No Result
View All Result
The Caribbean Post
  • Current News
    • Politics
    • Business
  • Tech News
  • Education
  • Entertainment
    • Travel
    • Lifestyle
  • Health
    • Recipes
  • World
    • Antigua
    • Aruba
    • Barbados
    • Barbuda
    • Dominica
    • Dominican Republic
    • Guadeloupe
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Jamaica
    • St Lucia
    • Suriname
    • Tobago
    • Trinidad
No Result
View All Result
The Caribbean Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World Guadeloupe

Discovery of giant bacteria challenges traditional concepts

Staff by Staff
June 26, 2022
in Guadeloupe, World
0
Discovery of giant bacteria challenges traditional concepts
2
SHARES
12
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

You might also like

Letitia Wright receives honorary doctorate from UG, takes Guyana by storm – Caribbean Life

Ramharack, Joseph named in Windies women’s T20 World Cup squad

Keppel O&M To Deliver Guyana’s Third FPSO To SBM Offshore

The incredible discovery of a giant bacteria from mangroves in the Guadeloupe islands has challenged our concept of what bacteria look like.

Bacterial cells are usually microscopic, where most bacterial cells are around two micrometres (microns), with the largest known species reaching up to 750 µm. The newly discovered giant bacteria has an average cell length greater than 9,000 µm (9 mm) and is visible to the naked eye.

“It’s 5,000 times bigger than most bacteria,” says lead author Jean-Marie Volland from the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US) and the Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems (US). “To put it into context, it would be like a human encountering another human as tall as Mount Everest.”

Guadeloupe is a French island group in the southern Caribbean Sea, famous for its 8000 hectares of mangrove swamp, predominantly situated within the Grand Cul-de-sac marin, which fringes Grand-Terre and Basse-Terre islands.

View of sampling sites amidst the mangroves in Guadeloupe. Credit: Hugo Bret

In 2009, marine biology Professor Olivier Gros, from the Université des Antilles (Guadeloupe), was sifting through mangrove sediments when he came across the bacteria.

“In the beginning I thought it was just something curious, some white filaments that needed to be attached to something in the sediment like a leaf,” says Gros.

“I thought they were eukaryotes,” adds co-author Associate Professor Silvina Gonzalez-Rizzo, of the Université des Antilles. “I didn’t think they were bacteria because they were so big with seemingly a lot of filaments.”

Both morphological and molecular approaches were used over several years to identify and characterise these unusual specimens. Combining fluorescence, x-ray, and electron microscopy with genome sequencing, it has now been confirmed that this is indeed a single-cell sulfur-oxidising prokaryote, belonging to the genus Thiomargarita.

Get an update of science stories delivered straight to your inbox.

“We realised they were unique because it looked like a single cell,” says Gonzalez-Rizzo. The fact that they were a ‘macro’ microbe was fascinating!”

The main distinction between eukaryotes and prokaryotes is that eukaryotic cells store their genetic information in a membrane-bound nucleus, while for most prokaryotic cells the DNA floats freely within the cells’ cytoplasm.

The giant bacteria keeps its DNA more organised than other prokaryotes: its DNA clusters are kept in membrane-bound compartments dubbed “pepins” after small seeds in fruit. It also has three times more genes than most other bacteria.

“The big surprise of the project was to realise that these genome copies that are spread throughout the whole cell are actually contained within a structure that has a membrane,” says Volland. “And this is very unexpected for a bacterium.”

The species has been suitably named Thiomargarita magnifica.

“’Magnifica’ because magnus in Latin means big and I think it’s gorgeous like the French word magnifique,” explains Gonzalez-Rizzo. “This kind of discovery opens new questions about bacterial morphotypes that have never been studied before.”

The paper about giant bacteria has been published in Science.

Bacteria, giant, microbe, genomics, scanning, prokaryote, thiomargarita magnifica
Single filament of giant bacteria Ca. Thiomargarita magnifica. Credit: Jean-Marie Volland



Credit: Source link

Tags: bacteriachallengesConceptsdiscoveryGiantTraditional
Previous Post

Antigua and Barbuda continues to showcase ‘Where Love and Wanderlust Collide’ 

Next Post

Man City boss Pep Guardiola, 51, looks tanned and toned as he relaxes on beach in Barbados

Staff

Staff

Related Posts

Letitia Wright receives honorary doctorate from UG, takes Guyana by storm – Caribbean Life
Guyana

Letitia Wright receives honorary doctorate from UG, takes Guyana by storm – Caribbean Life

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Ramharack, Joseph named in Windies women’s T20 World Cup squad
Trinidad

Ramharack, Joseph named in Windies women’s T20 World Cup squad

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Keppel O&M To Deliver Guyana’s Third FPSO To SBM Offshore
Guyana

Keppel O&M To Deliver Guyana’s Third FPSO To SBM Offshore

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Joshua Regrello’s concert is for the culture
Tobago

Joshua Regrello’s concert is for the culture

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Coach Gordon getting U-17s mentally ready | Sports
Guadeloupe

Coach Gordon getting U-17s mentally ready | Sports

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Next Post
Man City boss Pep Guardiola, 51, looks tanned and toned as he relaxes on beach in Barbados

Man City boss Pep Guardiola, 51, looks tanned and toned as he relaxes on beach in Barbados

Recommended

Chief Secretary: Sports facilities to be spruced up by March

Chief Secretary: Sports facilities to be spruced up by March

January 21, 2023
Are These Underrated Caribbean Destinations Worth Visiting?

Are These Underrated Caribbean Destinations Worth Visiting?

July 2, 2022

Categories

  • Business (551)
  • Current News (310)
  • Education (28)
  • Entertainment (80)
    • Lifestyle (23)
    • Travel (16)
  • Health (294)
    • Recipes (214)
  • Politics (35)
  • Tech News (75)
  • World (3,474)
    • Antigua (28)
    • Aruba (30)
    • Barbados (28)
    • Barbuda (28)
    • Dominica (29)
    • Dominican Republic (29)
    • Guadeloupe (537)
    • Guyana (880)
    • Haiti (28)
    • Jamaica (28)
    • St Lucia (27)
    • Suriname (28)
    • Tobago (884)
    • Trinidad (889)

Don't miss it

Fried Deviled Eggs – Immaculate Bites
Recipes

Fried Deviled Eggs – Immaculate Bites

March 21, 2023
Crude oil prices could fall further in the coming weeks
Business

Crude oil prices could fall further in the coming weeks

March 21, 2023
Ensure decent work for key workers
Business

Ensure decent work for key workers

March 21, 2023
AOSIS statement on latest IPCC climate science report
Current News

AOSIS statement on latest IPCC climate science report

March 20, 2023
Reduce dependence on fossil fuels, official says
Current News

Reduce dependence on fossil fuels, official says

March 20, 2023
Bank failures underscore ‘obligation’ for prudence
Business

Bank failures underscore ‘obligation’ for prudence

March 19, 2023
The Caribbean Post

This is an online news portal that aims to share latest news about Africa, Caribbean and other countries of Africa with respect to business, entertainment, breaking updates and stuff like that. Feel free to get in touch!

Categories

  • Business
  • Current News
  • Education
  • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Health
    • Recipes
  • Politics
  • Tech News
  • World
    • Antigua
    • Aruba
    • Barbados
    • Barbuda
    • Dominica
    • Dominican Republic
    • Guadeloupe
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Jamaica
    • St Lucia
    • Suriname
    • Tobago
    • Trinidad

Browse by Tag

announces Barbados Bites Business Caribbean Caribe COVID COVID19 Cup day development Dominica energy food France French gas global Guadeloupe Guyana Guyanas Guyanese Immaculate Jamaica Local man Minister National News oil Online police President Room Route Silicon support team Tobago Tobagos trade Trinidad weather World year

Recent News

Fried Deviled Eggs – Immaculate Bites

Fried Deviled Eggs – Immaculate Bites

March 21, 2023
Crude oil prices could fall further in the coming weeks

Crude oil prices could fall further in the coming weeks

March 21, 2023
Ensure decent work for key workers

Ensure decent work for key workers

March 21, 2023
AOSIS statement on latest IPCC climate science report

AOSIS statement on latest IPCC climate science report

March 20, 2023

2022© Design by CodingBite | Powered by LuxamaMedia.

No Result
View All Result
  • Current News
    • Politics
    • Business
  • Tech News
  • Education
  • Entertainment
    • Travel
    • Lifestyle
  • Health
    • Recipes
  • World
    • Antigua
    • Aruba
    • Barbados
    • Barbuda
    • Dominica
    • Dominican Republic
    • Guadeloupe
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Jamaica
    • St Lucia
    • Suriname
    • Tobago
    • Trinidad

2022© Design by CodingBite | Powered by LuxamaMedia.