Here she is ...

... one of several organisms my lab has putatively identified as novel. I have a name picked out for her, just need to finish the ubiquinone and DNA:DNA hybridization analysis to the next closely related type organism/strain and then we can get her published and named.

TEM image

New bacterial species identified ...

... nothing really exciting there, as new bacterial species are being identified all the time. Heck, there is an entire journal devoted to publishing on new bacterial species. How they were identified is fairly cool though.

The experiment was conducted using a 26.7 million cubic feet balloon carrying a 459 kg scientific payload soaked in 38 kg of liquid Neon, which was flown from the National Balloon Facility in Hyderabad, operated by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). The payload consisted of a cryosampler containing sixteen evacuated and sterilised stainless steel probes. Throughout the flight, the probes remained immersed in liquid Neon to create a cryopump effect. These cylinders, after collecting air samples from different heights ranging from 20 km to 41 km, were parachuted down and safely retrieved.

Send a balloon up into the atmosphere, sample the rarefied air and drop samples back down to earth.

As for the three new species, they were named as follows:

One of the new species has been named as Janibacter hoylei, after the Distinguished Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, the second as Bacillus isronensis recognising the contribution of ISRO in the balloon experiments which led to its discovery and the third as Bacillus aryabhata after India’s celebrated ancient astronomer Aryabhata and also the first satellite of ISRO.

If you have a pet lizard ...

... listen up.

New bacterial organism identified which can cause fatal disease in lizards.

Skin infections are common in pet lizards and can lead to fatal organ disease and septicaemia. Infections are particularly risky in lizards that are bred in captivity for release into the wild, as they can spread into the wild population. The cause of these diseases has been unclear but now researchers in Belgium have discovered a new bacterium responsible for dermatitis in desert lizards.

The organism? Devriesea agamarum

The name is derived from Devriesea referring to the veterinary microbiologist L.A. Devriese and agamarum after Agama, an Old World reptile. See, that's the cool thing about getting to name a new species of life. Heck, they even identified a new genus so they achieved double glory!

Naming Rights

If you're like me ... identifying a new organism/gene is exciting because it means you get to name it. Sometimes, that isn't always the case though.

Just think, today the FDA would've been looking for the source of Smithonella if Dr. Salmon hadn't been such an ass.