Magnetobacterium bavaricum

Magnetobacterium bavaricum is a species of bacterium.

Mycobacterium orygis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Kingdom:	Pseudomonadati
Phylum:	Nitrospirota
Class:	Nitrospira
Order:	Nitrospirales
Family:	Nitrospiraceae
Genus:	Magnetobacterium
Species:	M. bavaricum
Binomial name
Magnetobacterium bavaricum

Morphology and physiology

Magnetobacterium bavaricum is a large rod shaped gram negative microorganism that ranges from 8um-10um in length and 1.5um-2um in width.^[1][2][3][4] These microorganisms are motile by a single polar flagella and orient themselves by use of magnetotaxis.^[3] M. bavaricum were found to contain upwards of 1,000 magnetosomes per cell^[4][2] which is far more than required for cell orientation along the Earth's magnetic field and the execution of magnetotactic behaviors.^[2] These hook-shaped magnetite crystals arrange themselves in three to six bundles of multiple chains along the organism and create magnetic moments for the cell^[3][4] that allow polar magnetotaxis while the cell propels itself forward via the singular flagella.^[3] These organisms are observed containing a range from zero-twenty intracellular globules containing elemental sulfur believed to aid in a sulfur oxidizing metabolism for energy production by providing an energy reservoir.^[2][1][4][5]

Habitat

This species has been found within sediments of freshwater lakes in Upper Bavaria, Germany and is difficult to culture due to being a gradient organism occupying microaerobic zoned environments also known as the OAI zone.^[2][3] Although this species has been identified within a small layer of sediment, it appears to account for approximately 30% of the biovolume in Lake Chiemsee surface sediments indicating it may be a dominant fraction of the microbial community found within this layer of sediment.^[2][3]