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May 9, 2002
Art Gallery
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Invisible to the naked eye, a tiny microbe living on another microbe
has recently been discovered in the sea. Considering the small size and
minimalist genome, the researchers named the new organism Nanoarchaeum
equitans.
The electron micrographs helped the researchers identify N. equitans,
which can be seen as small spherical structures attached to the cells
of Ignicoccus.
See related GNN article
»Discovery of undersea
creature leads to new archaeal phylum
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The newly discovered Nanoarchaeum
equitans (tiny cells) attached to its host Ignicoccus spec.
(big cells). Fluorescence light micrograph taken after DNA-specific
staining. Bar 5 µm.
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Co-culture of Ignicoccus
spec. (green) and Nanoarchaeum equitans (red). ss rRNA
sequence-specific fluorescence staining. Confocal laser micrograph.
Bar 1 µm.
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Cell of Ignicoccus spec.
(big) with cells of Nanoarchaeum equitans (tiny) attached
to its surface. Electron micrograph. Pt-contrasting. Bar 1 µm.
All images courtesy H. Huber, M. Hohn, R.
Rachel & K.O. Stetter, Univ. Regensburg, Germany.
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—Birgit Reinert
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