Rows of flagella lend the microbe Hemimastix kukwesjijk a "hairy" appearance.
Credit: The Simpson Lab, Dalhousie University
New microbe species are organisms that deserve their own "supergroup."
Credit: The Simpson Lab, Dalhousie University
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 ...
New microbe species are organisms that deserve their own "supergroup."
Credit: The Simpson Lab, Dalhousie University
From the headline I thought this was a story about Michelle Obama.
They have the right to peacefully protist.
That is just plain weird........
Regards,
Looks like a boss I had. If it’s lethally poisonous, it’s him!
They found Bigfoot’s latrine area?
There’s a Doll House University in Canada?
That actually explains a lot.
That’s It!
It is not a new branch on the tree of life. It was already there, but “scientists” didn’t know about it.
Their “tree of life” was wrong. Fix it, Mindy Weisberger, and don’t write stupid misleading headlines.
No, she is in a different part of the tree of life. The branch where all the free stuff is low hanging.
Yes, it is.
Hairy Ogre eh! They should call it the Hillary Clinton or Ogre Cortez.
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