What is it about?
Achromatium is a giant bacterium that uniquely precipitates intracellular calcium carbonate. We sequenced its genomic content in order to understand why and how it makes calcium carbonate. Our finding provides important insight into the resourcefulness of microbes in adapting to their environment.
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Why is it important?
The ability to precipitate intracellular carbonate makes Achromatium a useful model organism for the study of (1) mineral biosignature and (2) biologically-controlled mineral precipitation. Additionally, we detailed a template on how to utilize single cell genomic techniques to sequence these low abundance bacteria directly from nature.
Perspectives
Under the microscope, the giant Achromatium seems to be floating lazily across my field of view. Their calcite inclusions are clearly visible and are constant reminders of how little this bacterium is understood.
Muammar Mansor
Eberhard Karls Universitat Tubingen
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Metabolic diversity and ecological niches of Achromatium populations revealed with single-cell genomic sequencing, Frontiers in Microbiology, August 2015, Frontiers,
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00822.
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