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Provided/Esther Angert A close-up of the tip of an Epulopiscium with the tip of a protozoan (Paramecium) and the black spots are E. coli cells. The researcher mixed E. coli and Paramecium cells in with Epulopiscium she had picked out of fish gut contents to show the relative sizes. Provided/Esther Angert Three large Epulopiscium cells, each with several big internal offspring. This image shows total fish gut contents with some small eukaryotic flagellates and partially digested algae around the large Epulopiscium cells. Well, perhaps not quite Shaquille O'Neal. But it is Shaq-teria.The secret to an unusual bacterium's massive size...

It seems like a peculiar case of genomic overkill: a single-celled bacterium has been found that keeps tens of thousands of copies of its genome. The finding sets a record for most genomes per cell, but also poses an obvious question: what could be the advantage of stashing away as much as 200,000 copies of your genome? The number of genome copies in each cell varies by species. Many bacteria have only one copy; most cells in the human body contain two. Plants are notorious for being genomically promiscuous, picking up extra genomes then losing them again in a cycle...