美国加州大学Shailesh V. Date、劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室Tanja Woyke、Jean-Marie Volland及法国索邦大学Olivier Gros研究组合作的最新研究发现一种厘米长的细菌，其DNA包含在代谢活跃的膜结合细胞器中。相关论文发表在2022年6月24日出版的《科学》杂志上。

研究人员使用荧光、X射线和电子显微镜结合基因组测序，对Candidatus (Ca.) Thiomargarita magnifica进行了表征，这是一种平均细胞长度大于9000微米且肉眼可见的细菌。这些细胞比细菌细胞大小的理论极限大了几个数量级，是前所未有的多倍体，包含超过50万个大的基因组拷贝，并且经历了染色体不对称分离成子细胞的二态生命周期。这些特征以及基因组构成和核糖体在由生物能量膜结合的翻译活性细胞器中区室化表明，Thiomargarita谱系的复杂性增加，并拓宽了细菌细胞的传统概念。

据介绍，大多数细菌的细胞长度约为2微米，其中最大的标本可达750微米。

附：英文原文

Title: A centimeter-long bacterium with DNA contained in metabolically active, membrane-bound organelles

Author: Jean-Marie Volland, Silvina Gonzalez-Rizzo, Olivier Gros, Tomá Tyml, Natalia Ivanova, Frederik Schulz, Danielle Goudeau, Nathalie H. Elisabeth, Nandita Nath, Daniel Udwary, Rex R. Malmstrom, Chantal Guidi-Rontani, Susanne Bolte-Kluge, Karen M. Davies, Matena R. Jean, Jean-Louis Mansot, Nigel J. Mouncey, Esther R. Angert, Tanja Woyke, Shailesh V. Date

Issue&Volume: 2022-06-24

Abstract: Cells of most bacterial species are around 2 micrometers in length, with some of the largest specimens reaching 750 micrometers. Using fluorescence, x-ray, and electron microscopy in conjunction with genome sequencing, we characterized Candidatus (Ca.) Thiomargarita magnifica, a bacterium that has an average cell length greater than 9000 micrometers and is visible to the naked eye. These cells grow orders of magnitude over theoretical limits for bacterial cell size, display unprecedented polyploidy of more than half a million copies of a very large genome, and undergo a dimorphic life cycle with asymmetric segregation of chromosomes into daughter cells. These features, along with compartmentalization of genomic material and ribosomes in translationally active organelles bound by bioenergetic membranes, indicate gain of complexity in the Thiomargarita lineage and challenge traditional concepts of bacterial cells.

DOI: abb3634

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abb3634