Gas vesicles are buoyant intracellular organelles composed of a rigid proteinaceous membrane surrounding a gas-filled space. Many prokaryotic microorganisms including photosynthetic and heterotrophic bacteria and halophilic and methanogenic archaea produce gas vesicles. In the majority of cases gas vesicles function in providing vertical motility to cells in aquatic environments. Recent genetic analysis of several halophilic archaeal (haloarchaeal) species has shown that a large cluster of genes [gvp MLKJIHGFEDACN(O)] is necessary for gas vesicle formation.
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DasSarma et al. (2006) studied this question.
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