A square bacterium
@article{Walsby1980ASB, title={A square bacterium}, author={A. E. Walsby}, journal={Nature}, year={1980}, volume={283}, pages={69-71} }
I have come across a bacterium which has the form of a thin square sheet. In most bacteria such a shape would be precluded by the osmotically-generated internal hydrostatic pressure but this organism, found in a saturated brine pool, has little or no cell turgor pressure. Its shape is probably determined by the pattern in which the cell envelope particles assemble. These square bacteria are so thin and transparent and are so unlike any bacteria previously described that I would have overlooked…
196 Citations
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- 1981
The "square" bacterium, first described by Walsby from brine collected at the Red Sea shore, was examined by electron microscopy and showed typical procaryote structure, with a regular cell wall and a gas vacuole fine structure similar to that of other halophilic procaryotes.
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