User:Jlynn03/Thiomargarita namibiensis

Occurence
"The previously largest known bacterium was Epulopiscium fishelsoni, at 0.5 mm long. Thiomargarita magnifica, described in 2022 is larger."

*** move above sentence to first section of article

Thiomargarita namibiensis was found in the shelf off Namibia, an area with high plankton productivity, low Oxygen concentration (0-3 μM), and Nitrate concentrations of 5-28 μM. The most bacteria was obtained from the upper 3 cm of sediment in the sample, with concentrations decreasing exponentially past this point. In this section of sediment there were sulfide concentrations of 100-800 μM.

The Mexican strain was primarily found in the top centimeter of sediment sampled from cold seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. The top 3 cm of sediment from the Gulf of Mexico locations contained sulfide concentrations of 200-1900 μM.

Discovery
The species Thiomargarita namibiensis was discovered in 1997 by Heide N. Schulz and her colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology. They were aboard a Russian research vessel called the Petr Kottsov in search of other recently found sulfide-eating marine bacteria Thioploca. After acquiring sediment samples they found bacterias Thioploca and Beggiatoa present in small quantities, but large quantities of a previously unknown bacteria: the one now known as Thiomargarita namibiensis.

In 2002 a strain exhibiting 99% identity with Thiomargarita namibiensis was found in sediment cores taken from the Gulf of Mexico during a research expedition. This strain either occurs in single cells or clusters of 2, 4, and 8 cells, as opposed to the Namibian strain which occurs in single chains of cells separated by a thin mucus sheath.

Article body
98% of the cell volume is taken up by the large vacuole, which mainly stores nitrate for sulfur oxidation. Sulfur oxidation is the main energy source for T. namibiensis.

Cont. from sentence above: Large amounts of nitrogen must be stored as a terminal electron acceptor. Because of this and the organism's size, large amounts of sulfur are required which are then stored as cyclooctasulfur. The large amount of nitrogen helps T. namibiensis produce large amounts of energy, something that is necessary with the large size of the organism.

Cyclooctasulfur is stored in the globules of sulfur in the vacoules of T. namibiensis, aiding in their metabolism.

Cont. from sentence above: After the oxidation of sulfide, T. namibiensis stores sulfur as cyclooctasulfur, the most thermodynamically stable form of sulfur at standard temperature and pressure. With these sulfur globules in the cell, the organism uses it as storage of elemental sulfur in usually anoxic conditions to reduce the toxicity of various sulfur compounds (can also survive in atmospheric oxygen conditions as it is not toxic). The sulfur globules are stored in the thin outer layer of the cytoplasm, presumably after their use as a source of electrons in the electron transport chain through oxidation of sulfide.

[Edit in Occurrence] Although previously undiscovered, T. namibiensis is by far the most common benthos bacterium, comprising almost 0.8% of the Namibian shelf sediment volume.

[Edit in Metabolism] Add this statement: T. namibiensis cells possess elevated nitrate concentrations making them able to exhibit the capacity to absorb oxygen both when nitrate is present and when it is not.

T. namibiensis means "sulfur pearl". This refers to the appearance of the cells; they contain microscopic sulfur granules that scatter incident light, lending the cell a pearly lustre. Like many coccoid bacteria such as Streptococcus, their cellular division tends to occur along a single axis. This causes the cells to form chains, resembling strings of pearls. The species name namibiensis means "of Namibia".

***add last sentence to first part so that it reads "Thiomargarita namibiensis means "sulfur pearl of Namibia." so all naming information is in one chunk.

Thiomargarita grow in rows of separate single ball-shaped cells, not allowing them to have the range of mobility that Thioploca and Beggiota have.

***After "ball shaped cells," add "surrounded by a thick mucus sheath."

[Edit in Metabolism] Thiomargarita's immobility suggests that they rely on shifting chemical conditions, physical transportation via currents, gas bubbles, or occasionally, animal hosts.

[Edit in Occurence] The organism also has a direct impact on its environment. Apatite, a mineral high in phosphorite, is correlated with the abundance of T. namibiensis through phosphogenesis. Internal polyphosphate and nitrate are used as external electron acceptors in the presence of acetate, releasing enough phosphate to cause precipitation.

[Edit in Metabolism] Add this statement: T. namibiensis cells possess elevated nitrate concentrations making them able to exhibit the capacity to absorb oxygen both when nitrate is present and when it is not.

[Edit in the first section] It is a spherical organism.

[Edit in significance] Add this statement: Thiomargarita namibiensis primarily reproduces through binary fission in a single plane, which is a prevalent bacterial reproduction method. Yet, Thiomargarita cells stay connected, forming chains within a shared mucus matrix.

Editing Plan

 * Work on the grammar of the page, as many of the sentences are run-ons.
 * Correct the sources and add metabolism information because there is a lot more current information on our organism's metabolism.
 * The gigantism of the organism needs to be improved on how it survives at such a large size.