NANOBACTERIUM SANGUINEUM – WHAT IS IT?
“We can’t publish this. It’s too small to be alive. It must be a contaminant”
The turbidity in Kajander and Ciftcioglu’s culture flask turned out to be biofilm, elaborated by a previously undescribed bacterial species, which they named Nanobacterium sanguineum. Its unique biology will be discussed, characteristic-by-characteristic, as outlined below:
Small size Slow Growth Rate Difficult to Detect Cytotoxicity Biomineralization
Phylogeny Extremophilicity/Treatment Resistance/Primordial Growth Strategies
Nanobacterium sanguineum is a unique organism: there is no other like it on earth. N. sanguineum displays a helical cell wall ultrastructure, contains unique peptides, and its RNA and DNA have an unusual appearance. N. sanguineum is the smallest cell-walled organism yet described; it is smaller than the Vaccinia virus. N. sanguineum takes up amino acids from its environment, but produces biomass at just 1/10,000 the rate of E. coli. N. sanguineum divides only once every three to six days, also 1/10,000 the rate of common bacteria. Nanobacteria is the only mineral forming bacterial species to be isolated from mammalian blood. It is also the only bacteria that can create a calcific biomass at physiologic pH and mineral concentrations. N. sanguineum is pleomorphic, but all of its forms fix calcium and phosphorus to generate a carbonate apatite coating – the same stuff present in diseased arteries and kidney stones. Nanobacteria readily bind to mammalian cells, trick the cells into internalizing them, and then trigger target cell apoptosis - including killing those cells responsible for our natural defenses like T-Lymphocytes (fig1-Nanobacteria killing a T6 Lymphocyte). N. sanguineum demonstrates unique radioresistance, related to its unique nucleic acid makeup and low division rate. 16s ribosomal RNA analysis places N. sanguineum in the alpha-2 subgroup of Proteobacteria. Nanobacteria are sturdy organisms that are resistant to nearly all commonly employed anti-bacterial and anti-septic methodologies. N. sanguineum can be cultured from animal and human blood and diseased tissues. A closer look at N. sanguineum’s biology will help us understand its causative role in human disease: