Original paper
Magnetic microstructure of bacterial magnetite by electron holography
McCartney, Martha R.; Lins, Ulysses; Farina, Marcos; Buseck, Peter R.; Frankel, Richard B.
European Journal of Mineralogy Volume 13 Number 4 (2001), p. 685 - 689
published: Jul 18, 2001
Abstract
A brackish lagoon at Itaipu, Brazil, contains magnetotactic bacteria with unusually large magnetite magnetosomes (lengths 100-200 nm). The micromagnetic structures of the magnetosomes from two different coccoid organisms from the lagoon have been determined by electron holography. The results are consistent with single-magnetic-domain structure in the elongated magnetosomes from one organism and metastable, single-magnetic-domain structure in the larger, more equi-axed, magnetosomes from the other organism. The results are consistent with theoretical predictions of the transition dimension between stable and metastable single-domain structure in magnetite.
Keywords
magnetite • magnetotactic bacteria • electron holography • magnetic microstructure • single-magnetic domain