Square bacterium full of refractile gas vesicles.
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Most bacteria have rounded shapes as the their cytoplasm contains higher concentrations of solutes than the environment, which results in an osmotic pressure called turgor. At salt saturation there is no turgor. Here the only known square-shaped prokaryotes, archaea belonging to the Halobacteriales were detected.
Gas vesicles, small rigid structures formed by proteins, help the cells to maintain the right buoyancy in the salty brine.
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Saline Microsafari
