The Isolation and Characterization of Nannobacteria

With improvements in technology in recent years, new realms of images are being discovered by high power microscopy. One such discovery has been of very small structures resembling bacteria, only much smaller, at approximately 1/1000th the volume. These structures have been noted in many images of waters and minerals from places such as hot springs, rivers and even a Martian meteorite. They have been named ''Nannobacteria" and hypothesized to play a role in the formation of minerals such as calcite and aragonite. This research attempts to investigate whether or not these structures are in fact biological. Attempts to culture nannobacteria on TSA, R2A, SDA, DMEM and RPMI in environments of 25°C, 37°C, 37°C with CO2, and 45°C, have been made. Experiments to rule out the possibility that they are biological artifacts, such as bacterial fragments have also been performed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Grantor

Southwest Texas State University

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Knowles, Heidi C.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• McLean, Robert J. C.

• microorganisms
• bacteria
• geomicrobiology
• nannobacteria

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/15291

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/15291