title: How magnetotactic bacteria make magnetosomes queue up.
abstract: Magnetotactic bacteria contain chains of magnetosomes that comprise a permanent magnetic dipole in each cell. In two separate, recent papers, Scheffel et al. and Komeili et al. describe the roles of the proteins MamJ and MamK in magnetosome chain formation. Here, we describe the two studies and highlight questions that must be addressed in future investigations of how magnetotactic bacteria construct their magnetic compass needles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA. rfrankel@calpoly.edu
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Frankel
authors.forename: Dennis A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bazylinski
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D003460:Crystallization; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008280:Magnetics; D042201:Magnetospirillum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide