Dear Chris,

I do not know which species it. If I did it would with near 100% probability be one of the wrong ones because there is no overlap between described species and those that we study in the subsurface. Rikke Meyer is unfortunately in Thailand and I can not ask her.

It is accurate to caption the image as a bacterium that resembles those found in the deep sediments. You can also write that it is a bacterium that like those found in the deep sediments. Note that there are thousands of different kinds down there.

/Hans

From: Chris Combs [chcombs@ngs.org]

Sent: 16 May 2012 23:10

To: Hans Røy

Subject: Re: Science - Bacteria - National Geographic News

Hi Hans--Thank you, this is quite helpful!

Could you tell me more about which species of bacterium is depicted in Dr. Meyer's image?

Is it accurate to caption the image as a bacterium that resembles those found in the deep sediments?

Many thanks,

Chris

On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 4:35 PM, Hans Røy <hans.roy@biology.au.dk> wrote:

Dear Chris Combs,

These organisms are not very photogenic. Basically they are small round balls looking like any other common bacterium. We therefore did not go trough the significant fuzz og making good images. Not that we could have brought the equipment with us anyway.

I have attached an Atomic Force Micro-graph of a bacterium of the right morphology that you can use if you wish. It is from our press set and can be used without infringing any copyright. The picture has been taken by Dr. Rikke Meyer in our lab and any credit should be paid to her.