title: Archaea with square cells.
abstract: Two groups of microbiologists have independently isolated 'Walsby's square bacterium' from salt crystallizer ponds; its growth depends on pyruvate. Genetic analysis shows that the squares, discovered 25 years ago on the Sinai Peninsula, are archaea rather than bacteria. These transparent tile-like cells might have been dismissed as surface artefacts of salt crystals but for their gas vesicles--structures peculiar to prokaryotic organisms. Paradoxically, the square archaea are the dominant microorganisms in some hypersaline environments and might be globally important.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK BS8 1UG. A.E.Walsby@bristol.ac.uk
authors.forename: Anthony E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Walsby
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast; D019289:Pyruvic Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019289:Pyruvic Acid