Posted on 11/24/2018 10:13:14 AM PST by ETL
Scientists recently detected two previously unknown species of microbes in a Canadian dirt sample, and the specimens were so unusual that the researchers had to reorganize the tree of life to make room for them.
The microbes, also known as protists, belong to a group with the tongue-twisting name hemimastigotes, and the first-ever genetic analysis of these peculiar microorganisms revealed that they were even stranger than anyone suspected.
Hemimastigotes, first observed in the 1800s, were previously classified as a phylum within a much larger group known as a super-kingdom, though it was unclear where exactly they belonged.
But new DNA evidence showed that they deviated dramatically from all other forms of life in that super-kingdom. In fact, hemimastigotes may represent an entirely new super-kingdom unto themselves, demanding a brand-new branch on the tree of life, scientists reported in a new study.
Like other hemimastigotes, the newfound species has an oblong body surrounded by rows of threadlike flagella; under the 3D magnification of scanning electron microscopy, the creatures somewhat resemble hairy pumpkin seeds.
"They tend to scuttle around somewhat awkwardly — superficially, they look like ciliates (another major group of 'hairy-looking' cells) but swim in a less coordinated manner," study co-author Yana Eglit, a doctoral candidate in biology at Dalhousie University in Canada, told Live Science in an email.
Eglit collected the oddball organisms while she was hiking along a trail in Nova Scotia; whenever she and her colleagues are outdoors, they are almost always on the lookout for still-undiscovered microbes in a range of habitats — "from beach sands to lakes to soil at our feet," Eglit told Live Science.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
“They observed the activity of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules, as they ferried information between hundreds of genes.”
I’ve noticed so many science writers don’t understand what they write about.
It’s really bad.
My favorite Piers was his first: Macroscope.
Hemimastigotes are protists, interesting use of a term that means something other than what it used to, say, 45 years ago. Thanks ETL.
‘Ravenous, Hairy Ogre’...................AKA, the In-Laws Microbe.................
LOL! Soooo, how *was* your Thanksgiving? ;^D
Me thinks thou dost protist too much.
L
WTF!
My sense of humor is, well, not for everyone, but that was excellent. :^)
Dang, I saw one of those just the other day on a hike. Had I known it was interesting, I would have collected it.
Hey, you’re lucky one of these things didn’t collect *you*. I’m glad these things are small.
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