A) Greigite-producing bacterium, with flagellum (f) B) greigite and magnetite (arrows) crystals inside the new bacterium CHRISTOPHER LEFEVRE AND DENNIS BAZYLINSKI
After 20 years of trying, researchers have finally succeeded in culturing a bacteria species that uses a magnetic sulfide compound to swim towards food. The findings, reported today (December 22) in Science, may shed light on how creatures first evolved, and help researchers grow the compound for industrial applications.
“The biggest significance is that they’ve been able to isolate and grow magnetotactic bacteria that produces greigite in pure culture,” said University of Minnesota geophysicist Bruce Moskowitz, who was not involved in the study. "You have to figure out exactly what they like to eat, under what conditions they like to live, and those can be very difficult to mimic in a test tube." But now that the bacteria are happily living in culture, there’s no ...
