Summary Obtaining high biomass yields of specific microorganisms for culture‐independent approaches is a challenge faced by scientists studying organism's recalcitrant to laboratory conditions and culture. This difficulty is highly decreased when studying magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) since their unique behaviour allows their enrichment and purification from other microorganisms present in aquatic environments. Here, we use Lak...

Summary Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are ubiquitous aquatic microorganisms that incorporate iron from their environment to synthesize intracellular nanoparticles of magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) or greigite (Fe 3 S 4 ) in a genetically controlled manner. Magnetite and greigite magnetic phases allow MTB to swim towards redox transition zones where they thrive. MTB may represent some of the oldest microorganisms capable of synthesizing...