Isolation of a Microaerobic Magnetotactic Bacterium TH-1 and Studies on the Magnetosome

In order to study the properties of biomagnetism,a kind of magnetotactic bacteria TH-1 which is able to respond and orient along the lines of terrestrial or artificial magnmetic fields was isolated from Taihu lake.TH-1 is the first reported magnetotactic bacterium isolated from Taihu lake.Morphological observation was carried out using the transmission electron microscope and the results showed that magnetic cells each possess several magnetosomes that is circular-shaped and 10 nm-100 nm in diameter,which distributed in cytoplasm and the front cell wall.The Energy dispersive X-ray spectrum of magnetosome indicates that stain TH-1 consists of three mineral elements Fe,S and O.The magnetic properties both of the bacteria and magnetosomes were studied and a preliminary biochemical identification of the bacteria was carried out.All the above results demonstrated that strain TH-1 is magnetotactic bacteria.