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A mega-bacterium has just been discovered and it is so large that we can see it with the naked eye, measuring up to two centimeters in length, a record for a bacterium, the largest and very far undiscovered. It was in Guadeloupe that it was unearthed, and this is the subject of an article in the prestigious journal Science, because beyond its size, it is also its operation that is intriguing.
How does the bacterium Thiomargharita Magnifica could it go unnoticed all these years when it is literally visible to the naked eye? This mega-bacteria looks like long white filaments resting on decaying leaves in the water of the Guadeloupe mangrove.
First spotted about ten years ago, that’s how long it took to make sure it was indeed a bacterium, because it seemed impossible at first. It is so large compared to its congeners that it is as if one encountered a human several kilometers high.
And yet, it is very real, it is indeed a unicellular organism, a single cell, so imposing that this bacterium had to develop some innovations. Its genetic material for example: in the others, it floats freely inside while in Thiomargharita Magnifica, it is the opposite, it is well arranged in membranes. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s unheard of in a bacterium, a rarity that raises questions as big as it is.