Thiomargarita namibiensis ("Sulfur pearl of Namibia") is the largest bacterium ever discovered, with a width up to 750 μm (0.75 mm; about the size of a period on this article) [1], making it easily visible to the naked eye. Their size is attributable to a large vacuole in which they store nitrate. Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla/Divisions Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Omnibacteria Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular, bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ... Orders Alpha Proteobacteria Caulobacterales - e. ... Families Thiotrichaceae Piscirickettsiaceae Francisellaceae The Thiotrichales are an order of proteobacteria, including most notably Thiomargarita namibiensis, the largest known bacterium. ... Genera Achromatium Beggiatoa Leucothrix Macromonas Thiobacterium Thiomargarita Thioploca Thiospira Thiothrix The Thiotrichaceae are a family of Proteobacteria, including Thiomargarita namibiensis, the largest known bacterium. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Subgroups Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ... Vacuoles are large membrane-bound compartments within some eukaryotic cells where they serve a variety of different functions: capturing food materials or unwanted structural debris surrounding the cell, sequestering materials that might be toxic to the cell, maintaining fluid balance (called turgor) within the cell, exporting unwanted substances from the... In inorganic chemistry, nitrates are the salts of nitric acid. ...
The species was discovered by Heide N. Shulz and others in 1999, on the continental shelf off of Namibia. The previously largest known bacterium was Epulopiscium fishelsoni, at 0.5 μm long.[2] 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs. ... Epulopiscium fishelsoni is a bacterium with the long bacillus shape, being about 80µm across and between 200 and 700µm long; thus it is one of the largest types of bacteria. ...
There are no other species in the genus.
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Dense populations of a giant sulfur bacterium in Namibian shelf sediments
The largest bacterium ever found, a harmless organism that grows as a string of white beads large enough to be visible to the naked eye, has been found in coastal sediments off the coast of Namibia by an international research team.
Genetic sequencing indicates Thiomargarita, collected during a 1997 cruise aboard the Russian research vessel Petr Kottsov, is closely related to the marine species of the filamentous sulphur bacteria, Thioplocaand Beggiatoa.
Thiomargarita is physiologically adapted to its highly dynamic environment with frequent fluctuations of the chemicals needed for food and respiration.
The spherical cells of Thiomargaritanamibiensis are generally 0.1 - 0.3 millimeter wide but some reach up to a size of 3/4 of a millimeter.
Thiomargaritanamibiensis has its ecological niche in the oxygen-poor but nutrient-rich sediment and can survive in this environment which is toxic for most animal life due to high levels of hydrogen sulfide.
Thiomargarita is a close relative of these bacteria, but unlike their smaller cousins they are unable to and do not need to move constantly up and down to get nitrate or sulfide.
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