“It opens up the question of how many of these giant bacteria are out there - and reminds us we should never, ever underestimate bacteria.” “It's an amazing discovery,” said Petra Levin, a microbiologist at Washington University in St Louis, who was not involved in the study. Only later genetic analysis revealed the organism to be a single bacterial cell.
Olivier Gros, a co-author and biologist at the University of the French West Indies and Guiana, found the first example of this bacterium - named Thiomargarita magnifica, or “magnificent sulfur pearl” - clinging to sunken mangrove leaves in the archipelago of Guadeloupe in 2009.īut he didn’t immediately know it was a bacterium because of its surprisingly large size - these bacteria, on average, reach a length of a third of an inch (0.9 centimeters).
