| Range |
with respect to length of the filament 0.5μm - 1.3μm: width 1.9μm to 6.4μm μm
|
| Organism |
Bacteria Simonsiella spp. |
| Reference |
Young KD. The selective value of bacterial shape. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2006 Sep70(3):660-703 DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00001-06 p.673 left column 3rd paragraphPubMed ID16959965
|
| Primary Source |
[123] Hedlund, B. P., and D. A. Kuhn. 2005. The genera Simonsiella and Alysiella. In M. Dworkin et al. (ed.), The prokaryotes: an evolving electronic resource for the microbiological community, release 3.19, 3rd ed. Springer-Verlag, New York, N.Y |
| Comments |
P.673 left column 3rd paragraph: "The genus Simonsiella provides a fascinating example of a morphological adaptation for surface attachment to a familiar niche. Simonsiella spp. are filamentous, aerobic bacteria that are part of the natural oral flora of many mammals (primary source). Eight or more daughter cells are attached to one another to form short filaments, but the dimensions of each cell are unusual. When measured with respect to length of the filament, the cells are short and flat (0.5 to 1.3 μm) but quite wide (1.9 to 6.4 μm) (primary source). Each Simonsiella cell is slightly curved over its width, and the concatenation of these curved cells creates a ribbon-shaped filament that is bent so that one side is concave and the other side convex (Fig. 6C) (primary source). This morphology seems to be functional and important, because Simonsiella attaches to oral epithelial cells only with the ventral, concave side of the filament (primary source). Here [investigators] see what appears to be a notable surface-maximizing strategy: a large bacterial surface molded into a shape that may accommodate itself to the membranes of its eukaryotic host cells." |
| Entered by |
Uri M |
| ID |
115599 |