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Micro World

How small is Deinococcus radiodurans?

Deinococcus radiodurans is about 2 µm across.

What is measured: radiation-resistant bacterium, cell diameter

Deinococcus radiodurans (2 µm) drawn to scale beside an E. coli bacterium (2 µm) and a red blood cell (7.5 µm)
Drawn to scale, from left to right: Deinococcus radiodurans (2 µm), E. coli bacterium (2 µm) and Red blood cell (7.5 µm).

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How big is that, really?

  • About the length of an E. coli bacterium
  • About 3 would fit across a red blood cell
  • As wide as about 20 flu viruses side by side
  • About 80× as wide as a ribosome

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Facts about Deinococcus radiodurans

This bacterium can survive radiation doses thousands of times higher than would kill a human, by rapidly repairing shattered DNA.

Source: ASM Journals: Deinococcus radiodurans review; NCBI: Deinococcus genome

Micro World

NameSizeCompared with Deinococcus radiodurans
Pandoravirus1 µm0.5×
Nitrosomonas europaea Bacterium1.5 µm0.75×
Micrococcus luteus1.5 µm0.75×
Listeria monocytogenes2 µmsame size
Campylobacter jejuni2 µmsame size
Klebsiella pneumoniae2 µmsame size
Deinococcus radiodurans2 µmthis page
Shigella flexneri2.5 µm1.3×
Penicillium Spore3 µm1.5×
Aspergillus niger Spore4 µm2×

Test your sense of scale

Which is bigger: Deinococcus radiodurans or Shigella flexneri?

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