Motion of Magnetotactic Microorganisms

Magnetotactic bacteria and magnetosomes.

Swimming motion of rod-shaped magnetotactic bacteria: the effects of shape and growing magnetic moment

We investigate the swimming motion of rod-shaped magnetotactic bacteria affiliated with the Nitrospirae phylum in a viscous liquid under the influence of an externally imposed, time-dependent magnetic field. By assuming that fluid motion driven by the translation and rotation of a swimming bacterium is of the Stokes type and that inertial effects of the motion are negligible, we derive a new sy...

Magnetic Properties of Magnetotactic Bacteria

This paper reports on the magnetic properties of magnetosomes in the freshwater magnetotactic bacterium Aquaspirillum nlllgnetOlaClicwn. The magnetosomes are well crystallized particles of magnetite with dimensions of 40 to 50 nm, which are arranged within cells in a single linear chain and are within the single-magnetic-domain (SO) size range for. magnetite. A variety of magnetic properties ha...

Geobiology of Marine Magnetotactic Bacteria

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) biomineralize intracellular membrane-bound crystals of magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4), and are abundant in the suboxic to anoxic zones of stratified marine environments worldwide. Their population densities (up to 10 cells ml−1) and high intracellular iron content suggest a potentially significant role in iron cycling, but very little is known about their pop...

Ultrastructure of a magnetotactic spirillum.

The ultrastructure of a magnetotactic bacterium (strain MS-1) was examined by transmission, scanning, and scanning-transmission electron microscopy. The organism resembled other spirilla in general cell morphology, although some differences were detected at the ultrastructural level. Electron-dense particles within magnetotactic cells were shown by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis to be localiz...