Microbe of the month
- ARTIS-Micropia
Each month at ARTIS-Micropia, a special microbe is featured. It’s only on display for that month, so be sure not to miss it!
Which microbe is on display this month?
The diversity of life on Earth as we know it is only possible thanks to one crucial development: the leap from single-celled microbes to organisms made up of multiple cells. And the result was remarkable. Organisms could grow much larger and develop different tissues with specialised functions. Exactly how multicellularity first emerged remains a mystery.
Cyanobacteria were likely among the first life forms to make the transition to multicellularity. These early multicellular organisms probably resembled a group of cyanobacteria that still exists today: Pseudanabaena. These microbes grow in short, uniform chains of multiple cells. The cells are not specialised into different types, yet they can exchange substances and communicate with one another.
This month only, you can observe Pseudanabaena sp. under the microscope and journey more than two billion years back in time.