Super-powerful bacteria of the deep sea

The world of microorganisms still presents pleasant surprises for us, especially when they are hidden in the bottomless depths of the oceans.

In recent studies, researchers from China and Japan have published intriguing findings obtained directly from the bottom of the sea. The world of microbiology is undoubtedly a box of surprises..

an inner compass

Research by Japanese researchers collected samples from hydrothermal vents in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean and found something very interesting. Magnetotactic bacteria are microorganisms that produce magnetite and grejite, which are surrounded by membranes and form magnetosomes.

This unique creation It gives such organisms a superpower: They can sense the Earth’s magnetic field lines and orient themselves, as if they had a compass inside them.. The genre has been known since the mid-1970s, but the novelty is where it is!

They were found for the first time in the depths of the sea, in areas close to hydrothermal vents. Another feature of this specific group is the bullet-like shape of their magnetosomes.

For researchers, this may be a primitive form of the bacterium, dating its development in this region and providing clues as to how they might have gotten there.

living with the enemy

But Chinese studies have found another surprise in the ocean cliffs: discovery of a bacterial species. Call Poriferisphaera heterotrophs, In addition to participating in the nitrogen cycle and metabolizing it, it has a unique relationship with the bacteriophage virus.

Unlike other organisms in the family planktomicetsThe new species reproduces well in nutrient-rich conditions. In the presence of nitrogen, it releases a virus called “phage-ZRK32”, which instead of destroying it, lives with it without major complications..

For researchers, studying this new strain of bacteria could answer questions about how nitrogen cycling occurs in such deep regions of the sea and how the relationship between bacteria and bacteriophage contributes to it.

growing

Just like space, the bottom of the sea is still underexplored. Due to the limitations of technology, it is not possible to say exactly what it holds under the sea.

As tools of exploitation develop, We take a closer look at the life of marine microorganisms and even more of the evidence for the formation of our own planet.. Until then, we can climb slowly, still in the dark, waiting for surprises from the oceans.

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