Spiroplasma proteins turn immobile spherical synthetic bacteria into spinning swimming helices (IMAGE)
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Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have made the mobile lifeforms that have the smallest genome so far. They introduced seven proteins, thought to let Spiroplama bacteria swim by spiraling, into a strain of synthetic bacteria. The small spherical synthetic bacteria have minimal genetic information, allowing them only to grow and divide. With the expression of these additional proteins, the synthetic bacteria formed helices and were capable of swimming, making them the smallest mobile lifeforms genetically.
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Makoto Miyata, Osaka Metropolitan University
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