What is the simplest known organism?

which microbe is the simplest organism depends on your definition of the living organism. If viruses, prions, satellites, nanobes, nanobacteria (free subbacterial organisms) are excluded, the simplest wild organism is mycoplasma geniialium , with only 580,000 pairs of pairs and 482 protein genes. mycoplasma genitalium is small parasitic bacteria that live in digestive and genital tractions of primates.

For comparison, Carsonella Ruddii , endosymbiotic bacteria that live in plant lice, the genome has only 159,662 pairs of bases, with only 182 genes, the smallest known. But Carsonella Ruddii cannot live alone and as a virus, depending on the survival of the host. Previously, the thermophile, which lives around underwater hot springs, was considered the simplest organism with the genome of 490,885 pairs of a long and 400 nanometer -based body.

mycoplasma genitalium and other "ultramicroscopic" bacteria have diameters inBall park 200-300 nanometers, smaller than some large viruses. 200 nm is about the limits of conventional light microscope, so that an electron microscope or microscope of atomic force is required to observe these organisms. There may be organisms for wild even smaller than this-TV. Nanobacteria or Nanobes are about 10-20 nanometers, although their status of living organisms is controversial. Of these objects, no DNA has been successfully extracted, which can simply be mineral growth. On the other hand, there may be the simplest organism in the world.

Of course, the

viruses that cannot be reproduced separately are smaller and simpler than bacteria. Some of the smallest RNA viruses, retroviruses, such as the Rous Sarcoma virus, have 3,500 pairs of pairs, a diameter of about 80 nm and only has four genes. The smallest DNA viruses have a smaller size (18-26 nm) but larger genomes, approximately 5000 pairs of bases. Bacteria and small genome viruses tend to have a high ratio of protein coding genes (95-98%) compared to larger genomes such as human genome, where only 1.5% of genes encode proteins.

In the interesting reversal of the simplest story of the organism, scientist Craig Venter Nobel Prize the winner Hamilton Smith, who works at the J. Craig Venter Institute, is trying to create an even simpler organism, Mycoplasma laboratorium . We take if mycoplasma genitalium as the starting point, the team accidentally discards the genes and observes the resulting organism for signs of life. Venter believes that 100 out of 482 protein coding genes in Mycoplasma is redundant and tries to synthesize a new genome from zero containing only 382 genes and then injects it into the gutted mycoplasma genitalium , which would then reanimatize, Frankenstein style. This is called a minimum genome project. The aim is to use the simplestThe body for the production of large amounts of hydrogen for renewable fuel.