Researchers create three-dimensional model of bacterium

Certain bacteria can build such complex membrane structures that, in terms of complexity and dynamics, look like eukaryotes, i.e., organisms with a distinct membrane-bound nucleus. Scientists from Heidelberg University and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) made this discovery employing new methods in electron microscopy. The research team succeeded in building a three-dimensional model of the Gemmata obscuriglobus bacterium, including the structure of its membrane system. Their studies proved, however, that the G. obscuriglobus does not have a "true" nucleus. Despite this outlier characteristic, it remains classified as a bacterium and thus a so-called prokaryote. The results of their research were published in PloS Biology.

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