what is the smallest organism on earth?

Answer 1

Those answsers are wrong. It is a bacteria that lives on an aphid. Here is the link to prove it:

http://phylogenomics.blogspot.com/2006/10/worlds-smallest-genome-of-cellular.html

Answer 2

What puzzles the scientists, is that a virus can be created by smaller things, things which were not living but came together to create this living-characteristic, yet non-living virus. Perhaps there are organisms on the nano scale, even smaller than this. What makes a virus is different from what makes an organism. An organism makes an organism, but a virus mutates organisms to spread off a new organism specie.

On down evolutionary time you got your monkeys, your crocodiles, your birds, your people, your fish and frogs, and plants... And the micro-organisms we know of now could spawn into an evolutionary threat which was smarter, faster, and stronger than the human race... It is possible that what we started out as, was perhaps a virus... It is profound to think, but it's possible.

Answer 3

Oh for the big bang theory. Anything that can replicate itself maybe considered as an organism. There have been experiments with amino acids that, under the right conditions, replicate themselves. Is a virus no more than an amino acid. RNA tends to make up a virus. If this is so, then I propose a simple solution and ask a question. How do viruses mutate? One answer is that they use the hosts DNA. Another is that that they maybe, and I stress maybe, that viruses may be able to share mutated RNA. If that is the case, of which there is no evidence, yet, then this would be the answer. Maybe we should wait 20 years or so and ask the question again.

Answer 4

Depending on the definition of organism you prefer, some of which require "to be capable of reproduction on their own", which virus cannot do, then bacteria would be the smallest organisms, and the smallest known bacteria is Mycoplasma genitalium, which is about 1/10 the size of average bacteria.


(AmusedOne above is wrong about the link he provides. This describes the bacteria with the shortest DNA, not the smallest bacteria itself. Nothing is said about the size of the whole organism in that link.)

Answer 5

Well, look at the following article on Wikipedia. It seems to that nobody really knows and even scientist are having problem figuring what is the smallest organism!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallest_organism

Answer 6

The smallest organism on earth got 2 be unicellular viruses.

Answer 7

Ameba

any of numerous freshwater, marine, or parasitic one-celled protozoa of the order Amoebida, characterized by a granular nucleus surrounded by a jellylike mass of cytoplasm that forms temporary extensions, or pseudopodia, by which the organism moves, engulfs food particles, and forms food vacuoles

Answer 8

A virus

Answer 9

virus.

Answer 10

virus.......