The largest bacterium in the world found in Guadeloupe is “Theomarcarita magnifica”

The discovery in Guadeloupe is the subject of an article in the journal Science on Thursday, June 23, 2022, because “Theomargarita Magnifica” exceeded its size and plotted its function.

“ It measures up to two centimeters, looks like an “eyelid” and shakes the symbols of microbiology. Described to AFP Olivier Gros, professor of biology at the University of the West Indies, co-author of the study.

The discovery was made on the surface of rotting swamp leaves in Guadeloupe. Sylvina Gonzalez, a marine biologist at the University of the West Indies and Oliver Cross, Professor of Microbiology, University of the West Indies.

At first I thought it was a bacterium because two centimeters could not be a bacterium. . Cellular illustration techniques with electron microscopy show that it is actually a bacterial organism. But with this size, we have no guarantee that it will be a single cell. “

Oliver Cross, professor of biology at the University of the West Indies

AFP

Discovered ten years ago in Guadeloupe, it rewards all the work of researchers.

Researchers at the Lawrence-Berkeley National Laboratory (USA), a laboratory for research into complex systems in California And did not leave their file even after questions from the first science journal the West Indies University contacted. Evidence that is not strong enough in terms of image is reminiscent of Oliver Cross.

Complementary studies are being done with Jean-Marie Volland, a young graduate student at the University of the West Indies, the first author of a study published in Science, who travels to the United States, where he was recruited by the University of Berkeley.

Many questions arise in the scientific community about “Theomargarita magnifica”

Its large genome and the extraction of its genetic material are complex traits that have never been found in other bacteria.