The smallest known form of life on Earth

This is the first detailed images of bacteria that are considered "has so small size, how it allows life itself". Photo of the smallest forms of life were made by scientists from National laboratory of Lawrence in Berkeley, owned by the U.S. Department of energy, as well as experts from the University of California, Berkeley.

According to scientists, the world's smallest bacteria is actually very common, but it is difficult to capture in fact. It is difficult to do not just because it is very small, but rather because it is very fragile and dies quickly. The resulting photos bacteria from above was withdrawn only due to the fact that the organism during transportation to the laboratory was kept at a temperature of -272 degrees Celsius.

Although the bacterium is not as rare, its role in the world, according to scientists, is known very poorly.

"These bacteria are a mystery to us. They are found in various environments and may even play an important role in microbial life and ecosystem. However, we do not understand than actually doing these microorganisms," says Jill Banfield, one of the scientists involved in the project to create pictures of the smallest known bacteria using the method of cryogenic electron microscopy. However, scientists believe that the bacterium represents the limit of size and the contained material to sustain life. Most of 0.009 cubic microns (1 micron = 1/1000000 meter) these bacteria are the smallest living things known to science. For comparison: more than 150 of these bacteria could fit on a square, which is only one cell of E. coli, and more than 150,000 of these bacteria could fit on just one tip of a human hair.published

Source: hi-news.ru