The smallest form of life on Earth

US scientists published research on microbes that could be considered the smallest form of life on Earth.

The internal structure of a micro-bacterium.The cell consists of an inner cavity and complex cell walls.(Photo: Berkeley Lab)

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, USA, for the first time recorded detailed microscopic images of "microscopic bacteria". This represents the lowest size limit of life on Earth. The results were published in Nature on February 27.

"The newly described microbes are an example of a small group of microbial life on Earth. We know almost nothing about them," Huffpost Science quoted Dr Jill Banfield, of the Laboratory. Earth Science experiment, said.

"They are mysterious, these bacteria appear in many environments and play an important role in the microbial and ecological community. But we still have not fully understood what micro microbes are do, "Jill Banfield added.

To carry out the study, scientists filtered groundwater samples collected at the Rifle, Colo, down to 0.2 micrometers. Filtered water at this threshold is often considered sterile. However, the water sample is still full of extremely small bacteria, so small that about 22,500,000 bacteria only fill the head of human hair.

The team then proceeded to freeze the water sample, transporting it to the Berkeley Lab for testing. The genome of the bacterium was decoded at the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California.

"Our research is an important step in describing the size, shape and internal structure of micro cells," said Dr. Birgit Luef, who was a member of the research team and now works. work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said.