Virtually all bacteria require a microscope to see them, but scientists in the Caribbean have found a bacterium visible to the naked eye. It is a bacterium that has been given the name ‘Thiomargarita magnifica’. It is the largest bacterium ever discovered.
The bacterium was found in several places in a mangrove forest on the island of Guadeloupe, a French overseas department. The bacterium can be more than a centimeter long and has the shape of an eyelash hair. In addition, the bacterium is completely different internally than usual.
The DNA does not float freely in the one cell of which a bacterium always consists, but is contained in numerous small sacs, surrounded by a membrane. The largest bacterium found was about 2 centimeters long.
Olivier Gros, co-author of the scientific article in Science and microbiologist at the Université des Antilles, already found the bacterium in 2009. But he did not yet know that it was a bacterium. After much research in the laboratory, it turned out to be a giant bacteria.
Man as tall as Mount Everest
“It would be like discovering a human the size of Mount Everest,” said Jean-Marie Volland of the US Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who also collaborated on the study. “This bacterium is five thousand times larger than most bacteria.”
Why the bacterium is so large is still the subject of further research. The researchers suspect that the size helps the bacteria to avoid being eaten.
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