Scientists find smallest life forms on Earth

Over the last two decades, scientists have argued back and forth on whether or not ultra-small bacteria exist. The argument has been fueled, in part, by the1996 find of ultra-tiny fossil microorganisms on a meteorite from the planet Mars. But earlier this year, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have captured detailed cryogenic electron microscopy images of ultra-small bacteria. These cells are now believed to be as small as a cell can get and still possess sufficient internal material needed to sustain life.

The first author of the study, Birgit Luef, is now a researcher at NTNU’s Department of Biotechnology. The publication was the result of her postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley. The researchers found several kinds of bacteria from three microbial phyla that are poorly understood. The bacteria were in groundwater and are thought to be quite common. But what surprised Luef and her colleagues was that the bacteria were  close to and in some cases smaller than what many scientists have long considered the lower size limit of life. They reported the findings in the spring in the journal Nature Communications.

The cells had an average volume 0.009 ± 0.002 cubic microns, meaning 150 of the bacteria would fit inside a single cell of Escherichia coli.

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