Classification:
Kingdom: Bacteria
Phylum: Proteobacteria
Class: Gammaproteobacteria
Order: Thiotrichales
Family: Thiotrichaceae
Genus: Thiomargarita
Species: Thiomargarita magnifica
Special Features
The largest known bacterium
Chemoautotrophs (Sulfur-oxidizing bacteria) discovered in the marine sulfidic environment
Long Filamentous morphology
~50-fold larger than all other known giant bacteria
Centimeter-long single bacterial cell, although it can reach up to 2 cm in length.
Massive Polyploidy and Dimorphic developmental cycle (Up to 737,598 ± 159,115 genome copies for a fully grown 2-cm cell)
Visible to the naked eye
Consists of a large vacuole reducing the size of the cytoplasm
DNA is concentrated inside membrane-bound compartments of the cell, which have been termed “pepins”.
It can require up to two weeks for division.
The total genome size has been estimated between 11.5 Mb and 12.2 Mb, with about 11,788 genes, though only about half can be functionally annotated.
Reference:
Volland, J. M., Gonzalez-Rizzo, S., Gros, O., Tyml, T., Ivanova, N., Schulz, F., … & Date, S. V. (2022). A centimeter-long bacterium with DNA contained in metabolically active, membrane-bound organelles. Science, 376(6600), 1453-1458.
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