The microbe may be small even by their standards, (it can be up to 50 times smaller than E. Coli for example) but its importance is huge. In their studies , they showed a whole lot of patience, incubating the samples at 2˚C for seven months and then at 5˚C for another 4 and a half months, but it paid off when a small colony of purple bacteria appeared.

It is a well known fact that small cell size can be an advantage for accumulating nutrients and occupying micro niches and as a result, ultramicrobacteria are dominant in many soil and marine environments. Since all life as we know it evolved from microorganisms, studying such organisms living in extreme conditions could provide some insight as to what life forms we could find on other planets.