Magnetospirilli with magnetosome chains faintly visible

The Rhodospirillaceae are a family of

Pseudomonadota Pseudomonadota (synonym Proteobacteria) is a major phylum of Gram-negative bacteria. The renaming of phyla in 2021 remains controversial among microbiologists, many of whom continue to use the earlier names of long standing in the literature. The ...

. The majority are purple nonsulfur bacteria, producing energy through

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in ...

; originally all purple nonsulfur bacteria were included here.George M. Garrity, Don J. Brenner, Noel R. Krieg, James T. Staley (Hrsg.): ''Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology''. Vol. 2: ''The Proteobacteria Part C: The Alpha-, Beta-, Delta-, and Epsilonproteabacteria''. 2. Auflage. Springer, New York 2005, Martin Dworkin, Stanley Falkow, Eugene Rosenberg, Karl-Heinz Schleifer, Erko Stackebrandt: The Prokaryotes, A Handbook of the Biology of Bacteria''. Volume 5: Proteobacteria: Alpha and Beta Subclasses'' They are often found in anaerobic aquatic environments, such as

mud A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based or storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, ...

and

stagnant water Water stagnation occurs when water stops flowing. Stagnant water can be a major environmental hazard. Dangers Malaria and dengue are among the main dangers of stagnant water, which can become a breeding ground for the mosquitoes that transmi ...

, although they are able to survive in air. This family also includes '' Magnetospirillum'', which contains tiny chains of

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With the ...

. These let it sense the Earth's

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

, which runs downwards as well as north or south, to return to the bottom of a pond (

magnetotaxis Magnetotaxis is a process implemented by a diverse group of Gram-negative bacteria that involves orienting and coordinating movement in response to Earth's magnetic field. This process is mainly carried out by microaerophilic and anaerobic bacteria ...

). Similar magnetite chains found in

Martian Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pred ...

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object en ...

s have been suggested as evidence of life on Mars.Peter R. Buseck, Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski, Bertrand Devouard, Richard B. Frankel, Martha R. McCartney, Paul A. Midgley, Mihály Pósfai, and Matthew Weyland: ''Magnetite morphology and life on Mars'' In: ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' 2001 November 20; 98(24): 13490–13495
Online
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References

Rhodospirillales {{alphaproteobacteria-stub