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PubMed · 15866034

Archaea with square cells.

Anthony E Walsby
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Abstract

Two groups of microbiologists have independently isolated 'Walsby's square bacterium' from salt crystallizer ponds; its growth depends on pyruvate. Genetic analysis shows that the squares, discovered 25 years ago on the Sinai Peninsula, are archaea rather than bacteria. These transparent tile-like cells might have been dismissed as surface artefacts of salt crystals but for their gas vesicles--structures peculiar to prokaryotic organisms. Paradoxically, the square archaea are the dominant microorganisms in some hypersaline environments and might be globally important.

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ArchaeaCell Culture TechniquesMicroscopy, Phase-ContrastPyruvic AcidJournal ArticleReview

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Anthony E Walsby. 2005. Archaea with square cells.. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2005.03.002

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