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1.
Largest (longest) plant virus
|
Citrus
tristeza (rod shaped)- 20,000 nm in size (0.02 mm)
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2.
Largest animal virus
|
Parrot fever Virus (450 µ)
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|
3.
Largest bacterium
|
Bacillus butschli (800mm). Spirillum
volutans (13-15 mm in length)
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4.
Largest forms of bacteria
|
Spiral. Up to 500 mm
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5.
Largest protozoan (Largest amoeba)
|
Pelomyxa palustris
(giant amoeba) about 2 mm
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6.
Largest species of bacterium ever
discovered
|
Thiomargarita
namibiensis, which grows to 0.75 mm (0.03 in) in diameter, making it visible
to the naked eye and up to a million times the size of more typical bacteria
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7.
Largest sulphur bacterium
|
Thiophysa volutans (18 mm)
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8.
Largest virus
|
TMV (300 nm), Pox virus (280 nm)
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|
9.
Largest virus
|
Mimivirus (the Acanthamoeba polyphaga
mimivirus), with mature particles of 400 nm in diameter (icosahedral capsid),
800,000 bases and 900 genes. Later research suggested that it could be up to
800 nm long, 1.2 Mbp and 1,260 genes
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10.
Oldest microbe
|
Bacillus form of bacteria.
250 million years old.
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|
11.
Smallest animal virus
|
Foot and Mouth virus (10 nm size), Polio virus
(27 nm in diameter)
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|
12.
Smallest bacterium
|
Dialister pneumosintes (0.15-0.3 mm in length). In
nasopharynx of man.
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|
13.
Smallest DNA bacteriophage
|
Phi-X174 phage,
thought to be larger than Hepatitis B, at about 4 kb. It is important to
consider other self replicating genetic elements such as satelliviruses and
Viroids.
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14.
Smallest DNA viruses
|
Hepadnaviruses such
as Hepatitis B, at 3.2 kb and 42 nm; parvoviruses have smaller capsids, at
18-26 nm, but larger genomes, at 5 kb.
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15.
Smallest infectious material
|
Prion (100 to 1000 times smaller than tobacco
necrosis virus)
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16.
Smallest known plant virus
|
Satellite tobacco necrosis virus (Alfalfa mosaic
virus; 17 nm in diameter)
|
|
17.
Smallest organism
|
PPLO (Pleuro Pneumonia-like Organism) or
Mycoplasma genitalium (200 to 300 nm in size)
|
|
18.
Smallest RNA viruses in terms of
genome size
|
Retroviruses such as
rous sarcoma virus with genomes of 3.5 kb and particle diameters of 80 nm
|
|
19.
Smallest self replicating organism
|
Mycoplasma
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20.
Smallest virus
|
Virus of foot & mouth
disease (20 nm)
|
| TMV |