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Updated: Jun 25, 2025

Growing Magnetotactic Bacteria of the Genus Magnetospirillum: Strains MSR-1, AMB-1 and MS-1
Published on: October 17, 2018
Primordial magnetotaxis in putative giant paleoproterozoic magnetofossils
Ualisson Donardelli Bellon1,2, Wyn Williams2, Ricardo Ivan Ferreira Trindade1
1Department of Geophysics, Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05360020, Brazil.
Abstract:
Magnetotactic bacteria produce chains of nanoscopic iron minerals used for navigation, which can be preserved over geological timescales in the form of magnetofossils. Micrometer-sized magnetite crystals with unusual shapes suggesting a biologically controlled mineralization have been found in the geological record and termed giant magnetofossils. The biological origin and function of giant magnetofossils remains unclear, due to the lack of modern analogues to giant magnetofossils. Using distinctive Ptychographic nanotomography data of Precambrian (1.88 Ga) rocks, we recovered the morphology of micrometric cuboid grains of iron oxides embedded in an organic filamentous fossil to construct synthetic magnetosomes. Their morphology is different from that of previously found giant magnetofossils, but their occurrence in filamentous microfossils and micromagnetic simulations support the hypothesis that they could have functioned as a navigation aid, akin to modern magnetosomes.
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