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Phylogenetic analysis and phenotypic characterization were used to assign a multicellular magnetotactic prokaryote the name ‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis’. ‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis' lives in a large hypersaline coastal lagoon from Brazil and has properties that are unique among prokaryotes. It consists of a compact assembly or aggregate of flagellated bacterial cells, highly organized in a sphere, that swim in either helical or straight trajectories. The life cycle of ‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis' is completely multicellular, in which one aggregate grows by enlarging the size of its cells and approximately doubling the volume of the whole organism. Cells then divide synchronously, maintaining the spherical arrangement; finally the cells separate into two identical aggregates. Phylogenetic 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that ‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis' is related to the dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria within the Deltaproteobacteria and to other previously described, but not yet well characterized, multicellular magnetotactic prokaryotes.

Most multicellular organisms, prokaryotes as well as animals, plants, and algae have a unicellular stage in their life cycle. Here, we describe an uncultured prokaryotic magnetotactic multicellular organism that reproduces by binary fission. It is multicellular in all the stages of its life cycle, and during most of the life cycle the cells organize into a hollow sphere formed by a functionally coordinated and polarized single-cell layer that grows by increasing the cell size. Subsequently, all the cells divide synchronously; the organism becomes elliptical, and separates into two equal spheres with a torsional movement in the equatorial plane. Unicellular bacteria similar to the cells that compose these organisms have not been found. Molecular biology analysis showed that all the organisms studied belong to a single genetic population phylogenetically related to many-celled magnetotactic prokaryotes in the delta sub-group of the proteobacteria. This appears to be the first report of a multicellular prokaryotic organism that proliferates by dividing into two equal multicellular organisms each similar to the parent one.

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