Uabimicrobium
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| Uabimicrobium | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Uabimicrobium amorphum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Bacteria |
| Kingdom: | Pseudomonadati |
| Phylum: | Planctomycetota |
| Class: | "Ca. Uabimicrobiia" |
| Order: | "Ca. Uabimicrobiales" |
| Family: | "Ca. Uabimicrobiaceae" |
| Genus: | "Ca. Uabimicrobium" (Shiratori et al. 2019) Oren & Garrity 2021 |
| Type species | |
| "Ca. Uabimicrobium amorphum" (Shiratori et al. 2019) Oren & Garrity 2021 | |
| Species | |
| |
Candidatus Uabimicrobium is a genus of free-living aquatic Gram-negative bacteria that are known to display cell eating (phagocytosis).[1] As of 2026, there are only two species. The first species, Ca. Uabimicrobium amorphum was discovered from the Republic of Palau. Collected in 2015 and described in 2019,[2] it became the first known bacteria that can eat other microbes through phagocytosis.[3]
The second species, Ca Uabimicrobium helgolandensis was discovered from Helgoland Island, North Sea, in 2024.[4] These two bacteria with their ability to engulf and ingest (endocytosis) whole bacteria are taken as evidence of primary symbiogenesis that led to the formation of eukaryotic cells.[5][6]