Cute Little Things by Christina Kellogg : Deep Sea News

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Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.

Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.

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Cute Little Things by Christina Kellogg

Posted on: September 11, 2007 4:40 AM, by CR McClain

Who says microbes can't be adorable and charismatic? Just look at this cute little devil! This recently identified deep-sea thermoacidophile accounts for about 15% of the archaeal population around hydrothermal vents. That's right, it can grow at temperatures between 55 and 75 degrees C and over a pH range of 3.3 to 5.8 and look precious doing it. These archaea may be playing a key role in iron and sulphur cycling at hydrothermal vents. The bug's provisional name is Aciduliprofundum boonei, but its common name is 'little devil blob.' I personally think that Peter should dress up his new baby as this for Halloween...it's WAY more interesting than the bat, cow, and pumpkin baby costumes that are available. And you can't tell me this isn't an excellent candidate for the plush microbe series...if they can make ebola, the black plague, and flesh-eating bacteria huggable, this one's a no-brainer.

Citation: A.L. Reysenbach et al. (2006). A ubiquitous thermoacidophilic archaeon from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Nature 442: 444-447.

Abstract link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7101/abs/nature04921.html

Image credits: 'Little devil blob' image courtesy Terry Beveridge, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada (used with permission).
Giant Microbes image