Progress in study of multicellular magnetotactic prokaryotes

Multicellular magnetotactic prokaryotes(MMPs) compose of 7 45 prokaryotic cells highly organized into a spherical or ellipsoidal shape.The aggregated multicellular globule display a magnetotactic behavior.MMPs have being attracted increasing interest of researchers worldwide since they were discovered in 1983.Here we reviewed the progress in MMPs investigation from the points view of morphology,cytology,and ecology,which is based on the studies of the samples collected from the lagoon in Brazil,salt ponds in the USA,coast tidal sand flats in Germany and the Mediterranean sea near Marseille city in France,and a novel pineapple-morphology MMPs from the intertidal zones of China Sea in Qingdao.