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… 
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196 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
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196 Citations

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Walsby's square bacterium: fine structure of an orthogonal procaryote
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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.
Ultrastructure of square bacteria from a brine pool in Southern Sinai
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Optical diffraction confirms the existence of both hexagonal and tetragonal arrangements of the cell wall subunits and also of different lattice constants and suggests a mixed population of bacteria.
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Thecrystalline arrays of proteinaceous subunits forming surface layers reveal a broad‐application potential in biotechnology, vaccine development and molecular nanotechnology.
The Selective Value of Bacterial Shape
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    Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
  • 2006
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The aim of this review is to spell out the physical, environmental, and biological forces that favor different bacterial morphologies and which, therefore, contribute to natural selection.
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Efforts to characterize the mechanical properties of the bacterial cell envelope are reviewed, and recent advances in measurement techniques for individual bacterial cells that have led to a more complete understanding are highlighted.
Box-shaped halophilic bacteria
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Three morphologically similar strains of halophilic, box-shaped procaryotes have been isolated from brines collected in the Sinai, Baja California (Mexico), and southern California and contain pigments similar to bacteriorhodopsin which apparently mediate light-driven ion translocation and photophosphorylation.
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