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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
In 1975, Blakemore discovered the freshwater magnetotactic bacterium Aquaspirillum magnetotacticum which navigates along the magnetic-field direction. Electron microscopic work showed that the magnetotactic bacteria contain magnetosomes which are intracytoplasmic membrane-bound particles of magnetite, Fe3 O4. The magnetosomes are within the single-domain size range (∼500 Å) of Fe3O4. The magnetosomes within cells are often arranged in one or more chains with the chain axis more or less parallel to the axis of motility of the cell. A detailed study of the magnetic properties of magnetotactic bacteria can be found in the paper by Moskowitz.