magnetosomes

[lara]

here's something -
magnetosomes are found not only in bacteria but also in migrating birds,turtles,fishes like tuna.dolphins etc.they are located in the heads of these organisms.RECENT: plants also show biomagnetism.some have magnetite inclusions.

[2810712]

Thanks for sharing the info.
I didn't know the term magnetosomes... I knew that the magnetic molec.s in the dolphins and birds help them find the correct path when migrating...
But why do bacteria and plants require them. Are the magnetosomes in plants bacts birds dolphins have same functions??? I think bacts and plants may have diff. structure and function of magnetosomes in them...
lets google it out...

Shrei

[asutoshsahu]

Hey lara.

I have a doubt in this topic.

My doubt is as the bacteria and birds have certain type of magnetosomes, can these particles be attracted by magnet.

[Margret]

thanks for the info i hope it is correct

[MrMistery]

Even if the structure may be different, both in bacteria and birds there are inclusions of Fe3O4

[David Lennartz]

Certain ciliates have such structures in them as well, Loxodes is one if I remember correctly, and they are used to orient the organisms in relation to gravity......
DavidLennartz

[Sepals]

here's something -
magnetosomes are found not only in bacteria but also in migrating birds,turtles,fishes like tuna.dolphins etc.they are located in the heads of these organisms.RECENT: plants also show biomagnetism.some have magnetite inclusions.

Thanks for the info, may look more into it to see if it's exactly the same thing. It might explain partly how some of these animals remember migratory routes. Just a correction, dolphins are mammals like us not fish. I wonder if humans have them, may look that up too.

[Mjhavok]

I did an essay and presentation in magnetosomes last year for my Microbiology degree. Yes they can be attracted by a magnet.

Magnetotactic bacteria where discovered in 1975 by a University of Massachusetts graduate Dr Richard. P. Blakemore. Blakemore isolated the bacterium, Aquasprilla magnetotactum which is now known as Magnetospirillim magnetotacticum from swamp pond water where because of the organic matter that decomposes in this area the oxygen content in the water drops off very quickly as you go deeper into the water and like many strains of bacteria this one does not like oxygen.

Blakemore noticed that when he looked under the microscope at a slide containing the bacteria and placed a magnet near one side of the slide that the bacteria would orient themselves to the north pole of the magnet. Blakemore noted that there swimming speed to the magnetic was quite fast at 100 micro meters per second and that the entire population swerved simultaneously when the magnet was moved close.

The magnetosomes allow the bacteria to use magnetotaxis to orientate themselves into a more suitable environment.

[mkwaje]

We tried to isolate magnetotactic bacteria in one of our experiments in one of my graduate courses. Simply attaching magnets around the beakers containing enriched lakewater / pondwater may promote the number of those organisms in a "haze" near the magnet. I am not inclined to believe though that it is used for orienting to a more suitable environment. Chemical receptors in cell membranes would be better for microorganisms than relying on magnetic attraction, unless aligning themselves along the North Pole would give them some advantage.. Come to think of it, I read somewhere that prehistoric magnetotactic organisms were discovered aligned to a specific orientation. Calculating the age of the fossils and the orientation gave more proof that our magnetic North Pole has been constantly shifting to various places in the ancient times.

[Mjhavok]

What I was stating in my previous post was from research I done for an essay I had to do on Magnetotactic bacteria. My lecturer who is a microbiology with a PhD didn't say that the part on magnetosomes being used to reach a more suitable environment was wrong so I took it to mean it was correct.

[recca100]

thanx for sharing... is that maganatosome found in any particular bacteria's or its in all bacteria's ... any further research on it...

[mkwaje]

No recca, only a very few number possess magnetosomes.
Here is a pic so you can see those inclusions: