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Multicellular photo‐magnetotactic bacteria
Author(s) -
Shapiro Orr H.,
Hatzenpichler Roland,
Buckley Daniel H.,
Zinder Stephen H.,
Orphan Victoria J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
environmental microbiology reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.229
H-Index - 69
ISSN - 1758-2229
DOI - 10.1111/j.1758-2229.2010.00215.x
Subject(s) - multicellular organism , magnetotactic bacteria , bacilli , biology , bacteria , cell , paleontology , genetics
Summary Multicellular magnetotactic bacteria (MMB) are unique microorganisms typically comprised of 10–40 bacterial cells arranged around a central acellular compartment. Their life cycle has no known unicellular stage and division occurs by separation of a single MMB aggregate into two identical offspring. In this study, South‐seeking multicellular magnetotactic bacteria (ssMMB) were enriched from a New England salt marsh. When exposed to light, ssMMB reversed their magnetotactic behaviour to become North‐seeking. The exposure time needed to generate the reversal response varied with light wavelength and intensity. Extensive exposure to light appeared to be lethal. This is the first report of a Northern hemisphere MMB displaying South‐seeking behaviour and the first time a MMB is found to exhibit photo‐magnetotaxis. We suggest that this mechanism enables ssMMB to optimize their location with regard to chemical gradients and light intensities, and propose a model to explain the peculiar balance between photo‐ and magnetotaxis.