392: Magnetic Microbes Maneuver Marine Manager

This episode: A marine protist can orient itself along magnetic
fields thanks to bacterial symbionts on its surface that make
magnetic nanoparticles!


Download Episode (7.2 MB, 7.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Chlorocebus pygerythrus polyomavirus
3

Takeaways
Various kinds of bacteria can orient their movement along a
magnetic field. These are called magnetotactic, and they use this
ability to swim toward or away from the surface of their aquatic
habitat, to adjust their oxygen exposure according to their
preference.

No eukaryotic microbes have yet been discovered that can sense
and react to magnetic fields like these prokaryotes. In this
study, however, a protist was discovered that can do it via its
partnership with ectosymbionts, or bacteria attached to its
surface, that sense magnetism and orient their host's movement.
In return, factors of the host's metabolism may feed its
symbionts.

Journal Paper:
Monteil CL, Vallenet D, Menguy N, Benzerara K, Barbe V, Fouteau
S, Cruaud C, Floriani M, Viollier E, Adryanczyk G, Leonhardt N,
Faivre D, Pignol D, López-García P, Weld RJ, Lefevre CT. 2019.
Ectosymbiotic bacteria at the origin of magnetoreception in a
marine protist. Nat Microbiol 4:1088–1095.


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