A geologist from the University of Queensland claims to have found minute multiplying under her microscope. Philippa Uwins has revealed that tiny filaments in sea-floor mineral samples multiplied. She was looking at a clay mineral called illite, which has submicroscopic fibres. But then a colleague noticed what appeared to be fungus growing on the samples. She went back to her slides and saw spore-like structures that reminded her of germinating bacteria.
Tests are now underway to try to get DNA out of the nanobacteria.
Dr Uwins does not like the word 'nanobacteria' because she doesn't know the evolutionary development of her discoveries. She has called the organisms 'nanobes'. The existence of nanobacteria has been suggested for over 10 years. They were one of the lines of evidence used by Nasa scientists to claim that tiny structures in a Martian rock were fossil bacteria. Nanobacteria are far smaller than any known bacterium.